Police to focus on the capital
Nearly 3,000 police officers will be on patrol in Attica on a daily basis this year, police chiefs said yesterday, adding that crime prevention efforts will focus on the Greater Athens region where 85 percent of all criminal acts recorded in Greece are committed. The presentation of the force’s crime-fighting priorities for 2005, by Police Chief Giorgos Angelakos and Attica Police Chief Vassilis Tsiatouras, came as Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and top Public Order Ministry officials met to discuss ways of improving citizens’ sense of security. In Attica, a total of 250 police cars and 80 motorcycles are on patrol on a daily basis, while Tsiatouras said that a minimum number of officers have been designated to be constantly on duty in specific areas and who will not be sidelined with other jobs. Police chiefs said the rate of thefts and burglaries, as well as car theft, had dropped in Attica last year, while bag-snatching had risen by a marginal 2 percent. Angelakos added that counterterrorism would remain a police priority.
