The Minister of Citizen Protection, Takis Theodorikakos, announced a series of sweeping changes and upgrades to the Greek Police on Monday.

Following the high-speed pursuit by police officers of a stolen vehicle at Perama which resulted in the death of a 20-year-old Roma by police fire, Theodorikakos stated that the public is certainly concerned with what took place, referring to the orders given by the central command to halt the car chase, with successive leaks of internal communications of the emergency police respondents, with the lack of coordination.

The Minister of Civil Protection said “we are moving forward, with a plan of police reforms with five measures and initiatives of immediate implementation, as well as two institutional actions. With the aim of decisively improving the security services offered by the police to the citizens “.

Among the changes announced by Takis Theodorikakos is the equipment with body cams of all the police officers of the DIAS Group, OPKE, MAT and the patrols of the Greek Police. As he said, it is expected that all legal possibilities will be exhausted so that the relevant supply from EL.AS. will be completed within 2022.

The new measures include:

1. The complete overhaul of the Rules of Engagement of Emergency Action officers by utilising the best practices of European countries. Accurate description of operational plans and tasks for police officers. It should be clarified that no pursuit and search of persons for delinquent and illegal behaviour can be stopped and there can be no tolerance in areas and groups of high delinquency.

2. Ensuring the continuous retraining of all police officers, with priority given to police officers serving in the DIAS Group, who cover a wide range of security and policing issues in the service of the citizen. Both in the operational field, as well as in the communication with the citizens and the knowledge of the Laws. Special “post-training schools” of special guards are created.

3. Digitisation of the Operations Centre, utilising state-of-the-art technology, in order to facilitate the integrated operational image and the best possible coordination of forces in the field of Emergency Action. And, immediate corresponding training of the officers serving in the Operations Centre.

4. Immediate supply of body cameras to all police officers of the DIAS Group, OPKE, MAT, and Greek Police patrols.

5. Changes in the deployment of forces and the leadership of the Emergency Action Unit in order to better coordinate and provide the best possible services to society. Strengthening the Communication Centre with 20 new police officers, in order to improve the fastest possible response of the Emergency Action to incidents of interest to citizens.