Focus on core policing duties, says minister
About 1,000 Hellenic Police (ELAS) officers will be freed from bureaucratic tasks and reassigned to core policing duties such as street patrols in a bid to ramp up effectiveness, Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos said in an interview with Kathimerini on Sunday.
While stressing that property crime in the capital has dropped by up to 30% compared to the pre-pandemic era, a decline which he attributed to intensified night patrols in the greater Athens area, Theodorikakos announced that ELAS’ rapid response units in Athens and Thessaloniki will be reinforced with 210 new police cars.
He said that reforms pledged in the wake of the fatal shootout in the Perama district of Piraeus in October are in the process of implementation.
He added that officers are being trained to deal with rising cases of femicide, while vowing a zero-tolerance policy on corruption.
