‘Citizens Hour’, designed to build a friendly relationship of trust and confidence, between the police and the public is set to kick off on Monday at 14 select police stations around Greece. The action is one of the innovative policing techniques by Civil Protection Minister Yiannis Panousis to combat crime and improve the police force’s image within local communities.

The program – fully-titled “The hour of the citizen, organizations and social partners” – will first be applied in Attica, Thessaloniki, Patra, Halkida, Rhodes, Iraklio, Ioannina and Larisa. Police station chiefs will open the door to the citizens twice a month to listen to their viewpoints and proposals on various issues.

The problems will be dealt with by being forwarded to a relevant department or for more discussions at local councils so that solutions can be found to ongoing problems. The program will run on a two-month trial before it is evaluated so that improvements and modifications can be made before it is extended to other parts of the country.