Reporting: Makis Synodinos

The die has been cast and police officers who until recently served to guard VIPs and persons who are no longer considered “targets” are being transferred to services that are on the front line against crime.

According to secure information from skai.gr, approximately 1,000 police officers are waiting for marching papers to be transferred to ELAS combat services that are suffering from manpower shortages.

The 1,000 or so police officers until now belonged to the guard of former MPs, who have left politics or have been elected for many years, to the guard of retired police officers or soldiers and to the guard of businessmen who are not considered “targets”.

The evaluation and final decision was taken by a special group that was set up in mid-September, immediately after the Prime Minister’s announcement at the TIF where he had characteristically stated:

“By my order to the Minister of Citizen Protection, 2,500 police officers are released from guarding public figures. First my own safety in half, this will apply to ministers, MPs, officials, these police officers should be on the road in the police stations. As for businessmen and other actors, I am sorry, from now on let them finance their own protection”.

Circles of the Ministry of Citizen Protection report that the prime minister has already requested and released police officers from his personal guard.

At the same time, the movement of detached or assigned police officers to guard VIP businessmen and former politicians causes complaints and headaches in the ministry, since as an ELAS officer typically says “the phones are raining, because they don’t want to take the police officers and declare targets” .