In a “plague” for the Greek society is evolving domestic violence, as the incidents that are called to deal with the police authorities are increasing with… geometric progress.
The “explosion” of incidents is reflected in the latest figures of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, as from the beginning of April until yesterday the Greek Police was called to manage 852 incidents of domestic violence!
These incidents were reported to the competent Police services of the territory from April 1 to April 9 and as was known by the EL.AS within this nine-day period 617 arrests were made!
The upsurge of incidents is reflected in the aggregate data that the Ministry of Citizen Protection had made public. These figures stated that 2023 “closed” with 13,342 complaints of domestic violence. Analysts estimate that these numbers will be considerably higher in 2024.
New domestic violence mandate
It will be recalled that last Friday (5/4) an order was issued by the Hellenic Police Headquarters with new instructions for dealing with incidents of domestic violence following the errors and omissions that occurred at the Agioi Anargyroi department shortly before the murder of 28-year-old Kyriaki Griva.
The new guidelines were included in the Domestic Violence Incident Management Guide that has been in existence since 2021, with the aim of enriching it to deal with such cases promptly and effectively.
According to the order, it is envisaged, among other things, that a senior officer at the rank of at least Police Assistant Commissioner will be appointed in each Police Directorate to monitor and coordinate cases involving domestic violence.
Also, in cases where such cases are dealt with by a patrol of the Rapid Action Unit, the incident will be referred as a matter of priority to the Domestic Violence Bureau of the locally competent Police Directorate after consultation with the Head of the Bureau.
In addition, when such a case is handled by a police station, the police officer in charge is required to contact the Domestic Violence Bureau of the competent local police directorate to assist him in his work and to inform the commander of the police station, who will be present in the event of a spontaneous procedure.
Furthermore, the commander will inform the senior officer and the competent public prosecutor to assist in the preliminary investigation, whether it is a case of an automatic procedure or a case of a crime that does not constitute an automatic felony.
Finally, in cases of automatic proceedings, the provision of a vehicle of the National Police for the search and arrest of the perpetrator will be carried out by the service in charge of the preliminary investigation.
In the event of an impediment, the vehicle will be made available by the senior officer and the Head of the Coordination Operations Centre, as far as the GADA is concerned.
In the rest of Greece it will be made available upon briefing and instructions from the senior officer.
With regard to measures for the safety and protection of victims of domestic violence, provision will be made by the senior officer to ensure a safe place to stay until the self-incrimination process of the offence is completed.
To this end, existing suitable facilities of the ELAS will be used, among other things, while also exploring the possibility of securing them from the local government, the Church or other structures.
In exceptional cases and if all other possibilities are exhausted, accommodation will be provided in a hostel or hotel unit at the expense of ELAS.
