Crime-fighting team hits road
More than 2,000 motorcycle-riding police officers will be unleashed today on the streets of Athens and another 400 in Thessaloniki as part of the government’s latest bid to tackle rising crime. In a scheme similar to the Delta squad created by the previous New Democracy government, the current PASOK administration has set up the Dias (the ancient Greek name for Zeus) team to fight criminal activity. Almost 2,500 officers completed their training yesterday and will begin patrolling in pairs as of today. This means that there will be 1,002 pairs of officers on 650cc class motorcycles riding through Athens and another 211 pairs in Thessaloniki. The officers in Athens will be responsible for patrolling 167 sectors of the city. Each police station is responsible for between two and four of these sectors, which have been worked out based on the level of criminal activity. The Delta squad, set up last April as a rapid reaction unit for central Athens, is made up of some 400 officers.
