More police to be put on street patrols

Minister promises reforms

Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras told Sunday’s Kathimerini that he plans to put more policemen on the beat, while insisting that Greece’s secret service has not been involved in any phone tapping.

“I believe that affirming the feeling of safety among the citizenry is a basic personal and social right in every society,” said Polydoras, who came into the conservative Cabinet during the reshuffle in February.

He has taken over at the Public Order Ministry at a time when crime appears to be on the rise. Polydoras told Kathimerini that he has four key reforms that he wants to implement while in office.

One of those is to introduce regular patrols by policemen, both on foot and in squad cars, in city centers and the suburbs.

Polydoras said that he wants to push forward with the idea of introducing community policemen, especially in remote areas of the country.

The minister also revealed that he wants to make police stations more efficient while also reforming officers’ duties.

Despite two recent bomb attacks on banks, Polydoras does not feel that trying to track down Greek terrorists is one of the major tasks facing the force.

“I believe that there is no serious terrorist activity in Greece at this time,” the minister told Sunday’s Kathimerini, pointing out that the people behind these attacks for the most part were involved in planting homemade devices.

Polydoras insisted that the National Intelligence Agency (EYP) was not mixed up in the phone-tapping scandal which broke when his predecessor Giorgos Voulgarakis was public order minister.

“I regard this idea of a ‘state within a state’ as totally slanderous and dangerous for democracy,” he said, insisting that a spirit of “good faith” and “trustworthiness” ensures that EYP chiefs keep him informed of what the agency is up to.

“I am in control of EYP as completely as is possible,” Polydoras said, insisting that the agency did not have the technological ability to eavesdrop on mobile phone conversations.