OPINION

Police force in need of a facelift

The wave of successive crises that has hit the Greek Police (ELAS) has regrettably shown us that the political leadership has failed to fully grasp the extent of the problem that has arisen in this country’s public order sector. We have indeed seen a number of top-quality policemen assigned to key official positions. In other posts, however, all we have seen is the lukewarm recycling of officers who have some level of responsibility for the widespread riots of last December or people who have been hanging on to important posts for years and doing very little. Despite the initial good intentions of the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of public order, all we have seen so far is the usual party- and union-influenced decision-making process taking precedence over rational policy making. We can only hope that ELAS will be able to overcome these structural problems and will finally get around to the business of solving the recent cases of terrorism, kidnapping and hooliganism before the situation deteriorates even further.

Subscribe to our Newsletters

Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights, opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox.

By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.