Police shake-up on cards
Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis yesterday heralded the radical restructuring of the country’s security police, which he said was in desperate need of modernization to address «an explosion in violence and lawlessness» and crack down on the organized crime that fuels these scourges. Meanwhile, sources revealed that the minister aimed to remodel the Attica police headquarters along the lines of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation or Britain’s Scotland Yard, investigating serious crimes across the country. It is likely that the Greek force’s counterterrorism unit would be merged into this new reformed Attica police force, the same sources said. «We have a police force that is stuck in the 1950s,» Chrysochoidis said, noting that he aimed to recruit new, highly trained staff including economists, accounting experts and IT specialists to ensure that the new force runs smoothly and is more cost-efficient. The key focus of the new security police will be organized crime and its connections to domestic terrorist groups, the minister said. He added that jailed convicts will also come under greater scrutiny, noting that «the root of the problem is in jails.» «Organized crime and its connections run through the entire structure of our society and threaten to blow our social stability into the air,» Chrysochoidis said, using unusually strong language. In a related development yesterday, Chrysochoidis received the written resignation of the central Port Authority’s chief, Vice Admiral Theodoros Rentzeperis. The Port Authority commander is alleged to have objected to the repercussions of the new government’s decision to transfer the competences of the now defunct Merchant Marine Ministry to the new Economy, Competitiveness and Merchant Marine Ministry and the Citizens’ Protection Ministry. According to sources, Chrysochoidis rejected Rentzeperis’s resignation and is to meet with him today.
