Greek Minister Vows To Reform Police After Fatal Carjacking Incident

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2021) The Greek police will be reformed and the COUNTRY'S Penal Code will be amended after the fatal shooting of a car thief, the Minister for Citizen Protection Panagiotis Theodoriakos, who is in charge of the police, said on Monday.

On October 23, Greek police officers shot the driver and wounded one of the passengers in the car while pursuing suspects of a vehicle robbery in Athens. They started shooting after the car that rammed five police motorcycles. The police pursued the car, despite the instruction of the operation center to stop it. The car thieves turned out to be of Roma ethnicity.

Seven Greek policemen involved in the chase were arrested but released a few days after the hearing with the investigator without any restrictive measures. The incident raised several issues, in particular, police officers` professionalism, police violence and performing of their duties if they face arrest for it.

Theodoriakos announced five measures aimed at police modernization and two institutional initiatives.

In particular, he proposed to upgrade the punishment for professional thieves and to qualify the attempts to ram police officers by car as more than just a simple violation of traffic regulations.

The Minister also said that the new measures involved changes to the structure and the leadership of the police's Rapid Response Unit to ensure greater coordination and efficiency, as well as updates to the rulebook of the Greek Police agency in line with more modern European standards. Theodoriakos also pledged in-service training for law enforcement officers in cases of the pursuit of suspects.

"Our goal is to create the police of 21st century, friendly to citizens, respecting democratic legitimacy, persistent and effective fighting against criminality," the Minister said.

He said that he would ask the Minister of Justice to take the initiative on amendments to the Greek Penal Code.