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Victoria Mindova

The police should not become involved in solving social problems of political nature, said exclusively for GRReporter the leader of the National Federation of the Police Officers Christos Fotopoulos. "Unfortunately, in many cases we become a field to serve the interests of different parties, which is taking us away from our basic obligation to protect the citizens," said Fotopoulos. He spoke of the need to modernize and strengthen the civil protection units, especially at a time when there is a boom in crime in the streets.

He stated clearly that recently the police have not been used as intended to combat crime, but to utilize social conflicts like the one in Keratea, which turned into a local war this winter. The usual police work in investigating and preventing crime has given way to protecting buildings and people.

At the same time, the fiscal consolidation and the cuts in the budgets of public institutions have affected the police too. Costs, which are directly related to the operational police work, are reduced. This causes problems not only with the maintenance of buildings and assets, but also with the means of transport, patrol cars and motorcycles, as well as lack of fuel for them. The National Federation of the Police Officers noted that the officers’ payments have been cut by about 20% in the past year since the introduction of the measures for economic stability. The budgets of regional police stations also have been cut and reduced by about 30% compared with earlier periods. "There is no room for cuts and layoffs in public safety," said the police trade unionist.
 
Fotopoulos admitted that in Greece today the authorities for the protection of public order have deficits in meeting their duties. On the one hand, it is the result of the lack of a unified strategy for managing the police forces and their use, and on the other it is connected with the educational program for young officers who are now entering the ranks of civil protection.

In recent years, many sleeping fears and anger in the community awakened and came to the surface in various forms. In some situations, the police "managed to solve" them in a wrong, reprehensible, and even fatal way. Such was the case with the 16-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos who found his death by a police bullet in 2008. We asked Christos Fotopoulos what should be changed in the educational system of police forces to avoid accidents like this one which happened three years ago.

The trade union leader explained that the most important thing is to avoid the militarization of police. In other words, the police serve the society and protect its citizens, it do not perceive them as enemies, as in the army. "We want the mentality and culture of the authorities to change, and this starts from education." Everyone who attended a Greek protest or a rally, which grows into a riot, could confirm that many of the officers in the special units to combat civil unrest are young boys and probably not much experienced.

The Federation suggests a minimum of five years of experience in other police fields to be ensured such as street patrol, traffic police and so on before being directed to the special units. "Everyone should understand that the police are on the side of the citizens. Our job and mission is to protect them from crime. We do not want to be used as a mechanism to suppress the strike actions of other working people."