“We will try to be more effective in the face of what is a demand of our fellow citizens”, emphasized, among others, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Yiannis Oikonomou in an interview with the ANT1 television station regarding the ministry’s plan to improve citizens’ security .

“If you look at the statistics, the performance of the Greek Police, the Greek State, in the face of high crime, I would say that it is good. Much better than European averages. Where we need to become much more efficient and better is in burglaries, in Athens and the countryside, in things and delinquent behaviors that the citizen is confronted with in the center, in the neighborhoods of Athens, in the periphery” noted Mr. Economou.

The Minister of Citizen Protection emphasized that policing will be intensified, with more police officers in the neighborhoods, more regular patrols in Athens and elsewhere. Help in this direction is given, as he pointed out, by the Prime Minister’s announcement to the D.E.T. for the return of police officers, employed in other services, to the field.

According to Mr. Oikonomou, the first 1,500 will return in less than a month to DIAS, to ‘Immediate Action’, to the police stations, while he added that this will help a lot. In addition, he guaranteed “… that they will stay, that is, nothing is going to be done, one announcement and they will leave. They will stay in the services because that is the need now.” At the same time, Mr. Economou emphasized that ELAS suffers from human resources in the field and for this reason the increase in supervisory means is planned. “We are working on a plan – and very soon we will be ready to announce it and present it – for a very large increase in surveillance means. I’m talking about cameras, which will help police in all dimensions. And traffic policing, but also the fight against crime,” he stressed.

In addition, he underlined that “Greece is a European rule of law. Period, dash, paragraph. Within these limits we will take advantage of the possibilities that exist to use technology against crime, not against people.”

Regarding the traffic problems and the Traffic Controls, Mr. Economou stated that “we will insist on the controls for double parking until it is established that it is not tolerated”. As he pointed out, there is a plan in the Traffic Department and daily crews are on roads that have been indicated by the authorities in the Municipality of Athens and in other Municipalities. “To date we have had 350 confirmed violations. It is something that we will insist on and I say this because usually the problem of dealing with delinquency in Greece has been its piecemeal nature. With double parking, we will persist until it is established that it is not tolerated. Every day on the streets, rotation on main streets, the same streets can be repeated every day. Persistence is what will lead to the results we want.”

Mr. Economou also discussed the multiple murder with the Turks in Artemisa, noting that it is a quite serious case, which has many episodes in other European capitals and that the investigations are progressing at a very fast pace as new findings are constantly being added, especially the latest ones 48 hours serious findings. “We hold in our hands a very serious suspect for participation in this case, whom EL.AS. arrested at the airport when he tried to escape. The investigation of the case will be done, as the seriousness and all protocols require,” as he said.

Regarding the ongoing investigation into the murder of Michalis Katsouri outside the AEK stadium in New Philadelphia, he stressed that it will be completed in a week, ten days at the most.

Finally, answering a question about the challenges facing the government during its second term, he said “We have been faced with many, different and prolonged crises, around climate collapse. We have been tested by milder phenomena during the previous four years and at other times in this one, and we have proven with honesty, consistency and above all the correct management of crises from the time they occurred and after, that we can cope with the citizens’ demand to provide solutions and answers to problems, even if they arise once in 200 years. In this direction we will continue, with seriousness, responsibility, adaptation – where needed – and ingenuity where required, so that the citizens can be sure that the country will continue to move steadily forward”.