At one point, Mr. Chrysochoidis was the one shouting that «we’ve become Kabul.» Just yesterday, he said that «since one person lost his life, nothing went right.»
When a person is in danger, the police automatically respond in accordance with the regulations. Even an elementary school child knows that.
Under the New Democracy-Mitsotakis government, there are no regulations being followed by the police. Just as there were none on trains, and just as there are none in other critical services, whose operations have been subordinated to serving the bureaucratic state and the electoral needs of New Democracy.
The 28-year-old woman’s cry of anguish went unheard because the Mitsotakis-Chrysochoidis police force is focused on other priorities. This is the fifth time Mr. Chrysochoidis has held this particular ministerial post and the second time under the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Police stations are in disarray; the Z and DIAS units provide only limited services. Staffing is inadequate; many officers are assigned to guard a few, while a few are assigned to guard many. But what is completely lacking above all else is organization and, above all, direction.
Society and the state need a police force and police officers who command respect among citizens, not cops subservient to partisan interests. Just as the state needs an intelligence service, not neighborhood snitches—which is what the EYP has been reduced to under the current authoritarian regime.
It has been proven once again that the «law and order» doctrine was nothing more than a propaganda slogan—a figment of the imagination. It is being touted to cover up the government’s criminal panic and populism.
They made 17 changes to the Penal Code as if that would stop crime. And he is the one who must face the consequences of his policies head-on. The observation, «since a man lost his life, nothing went right»—unfortunately, this does not apply only to the murder outside the police station, because indeed, nothing went right. It applies to the directives and the philosophy behind the government’s policies, which, if continued, will ensure that nothing goes right.
Panagiotis Koumoundouros
Co-ordinator of SYRIZA-PS Laconia
