Citizen Protection Ministry

The Citizen Protection Ministry is reportedly drafting a bill seeking the radical transformation of the Hellenic Police (ELAS).

The bill will introduce targeted interventions in the structure, organization and operation of ELAS in order to respond more effectively to modern challenges.

A presidential decree establishing a new police directorate, dubbed the "Greek FBI" by high-ranking police and Citizen Protection Ministry officials, was published in the Government Gazette on Thursday.

Citizen Protection Ministry is spearheading a comprehensive reform of disciplinary law for Greece's police force.

In an official announcement, the ministry underscored that "almost sixteen years after the initial implementation of the discipline rules," efforts are underway "to usher the police into a new modern era of restructuring and reorganization."

A new police directorate, specifically tasked to fight organized crime, will be created, probably before the end of the year, officials say.

Citizen Protection Ministry officials are not ruling out the possibility that two military pyrotechnicians who were arrested last week for their involvement in the case of a parcel-bomb that was sent to the president of the Thessaloniki Appeals Court on February 12 may be linked to other terrorist plots, such as the attempted attack on the police riot unit headquarters in Athens last December. 

Investigators are reportedly working on the assumption that the envelope containing explosives that was sent on Monday to the Thessaloniki courthouse addressed to the president of the Court of Appeal was an attempted terrorist attack without, however, correlating the case with the recent strikes at the headquarters of the riot police in Goudi and the Ministry of Labor.

Only four of the country's 25 universities have security plans recognized by the Citizen Protection Ministry and, as recent developments have shown, even these have yet to be implemented. Plans have been drafted by the universities of Patra and Thessaloniki, along with Athens' National Technical University and University of Economics. 

Just seven months after a triumphant reelection, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proceeded last Wednesday with "corrective moves," alarmed by opinion polls showing that public safety is citizens' second biggest concern after rising prices.

Police mourn the loss of the 31-year-old officer, Georgios Lyngeridis, who succumbed to injuries on Wednesday sustained from a naval flare during violent clashes with Olympiakos fans in the Renti area. The Citizen Protection Ministry declared a three-day mourning period. 

Hundreds of police officers and special guards held a protest rally on Monday at the Sub-Directorate for Riot Police in Goudi, Athens, after the severe injury of their 31-year-old colleague last Thursday, with a request to not be responsible for guarding sports fields.