On the occasion of today’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in the First Program 96, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, spoke in detail about all the measures and initiatives that have been taken to deal with incidents of violence against women. 1.

Specifically, he said that “this year, so far, in the 10th year, January-October, we have 11,300 arrests. Last year it was 5,600, that is, it was exactly half. This means a very large increase in Police activity, due to the increase in complaints. The officially recorded victims this year are 21,000while last year it was 11,000″.

Mr. Chrysochoidis talked about a very big problem that is being revealed, and as he said, it’s good that women are starting to speak upto “open mouths, to open doors that used to be closed”. “So, there is progress, there is a positive development, in the sense that twice as many perpetrators have been arrested compared to last year. And if we go further back, unfortunately things are even much worse,” he said.

In fact, he attributed the fact that women started talking to the fact that it exists great activity on the part of the Police. In more detail, as the minister noted:

“We have created 65 domestic violence agenciesin all the prefectures of the country, in all the major cities of the country, with trained police officers, led by an Officer, who at any time respond to calls, complaints of women, children, etc.

– We created an app, one Panic Buttonwhich the woman can step on and immediately report the incident. With geolocation, with the GPS it has, the Police can arrive in a few minutes in any part of the country where the victim is.

– There is in every region, in every city, a safe place, known only to the Police, in which a victim, a woman, her children who may need to take refuge there can be accommodated for a few hours, until the incident calms down, until the perpetrator is arrested”.

Mr. Chrysochoidis also mentioned that the police officers, who serve in the offices dealing with incidents of domestic violence, have received special training regarding their pre-investigative duties, i.e. knowledge of the legislation, the relevant provisions that exist. In addition, they have been trained in relation to the psychological management of the woman, encouraging her to report, to create a climate of trust between them and the victim, to draw up a case file, which will lead to the arrest of the perpetrator, but also to coordinate the other forces of the Police, in order to find and arrest the perpetrator and to take away his weapon, if he has one.

The minister also underlined that in each domestic violence office the responsible police officer works based on a protocol, which is posted right behind the seat where he sits. This concerns both the incident management protocol, which, as the Citizen Protection Minister characteristically said, “is his “Gospel”” and the victim’s rights protocol, which informs him of it.