Crime: The government acknowledges the problem but fails to solve it

The government spokesperson, Aristotelia Peloni, in an interview with Open, continued the policy of...findings for the crime, admitting that there is a problem. The interesting thing she said is that Greece is, was and remains a safe country. We do not recall the ruling party saying that Greece was a safe country and what it claimed about “instilling a sense of security in citizens” was one of its key election slogans. For now, is keeping an eye on Exarchia and hires up to 1,000 police officers for the universities. The government spokeswoman did not tell us whether the government intends to open them at some point! They even opened the racecourse but the universities remained closed and probably not because the students don't know how to wear their masks.

So what did Mrs Peloni say about crime?;

«We have one of the lowest homicide and robbery rates in the whole European Union and this is proven by the statistics. Policing in the neighbourhoods exists, controls are being carried out and strengthened,’ Peloni noted, adding that organised crime is a separate problem, which obviously exists and needs to be tackled.

«The EL.AS is doing its duty. Obviously more needs to be done. We have confidence that operationally it will do its job and that the perpetrators of all these incidents will be arrested and brought to justice,» he said.

He then blamed the opposition and especially the SYRIZA that he is mixing, in the same mixer, separate issues to distract. «First of all, let me say that it was Syriza itself that lambasted the government for excessive policing during lockdown and restrictive measures. Then he was saying no police, now he's berating the government for not policing the neighborhoods or the sense of security of the citizenry. So let him decide what he wants,» the government spokeswoman said.

On the university protection group, he said that the law passed will be implemented, will proceed with the recruitment of the first 400 and this number may reach up to 1,000, depending on the needs of the institutions and always in cooperation with them. «They will train and staff these teams, in collaboration with the Higher Education Institutions, where there is a need. It is not a horizontal problem. There are institutions that have a problem and others that don't. The aim is to act mainly as a deterrent to ensure academic freedom in universities,» he said.