Panic Button Will Let Women at Risk in Greece Alert Police of Danger
More women in Greece will in 2024 be able to use a Panic Button application on their phones that they can use to notify police if they are in danger or their lives are being threatened as the program begun in 2023 is being expanded.
It’s a pilot program set up by the state in the aftermath of a rash of women being assaulted or killed and femicides as well as so many sexual harassment cases that a #MeToo movement spread to alert people of the danger.
Most rapes in Greece also go unreported and the threat of physical danger to women has become so great that the program is being expanded to other regions of the country whose police departments will take part.
Deputy Minister of Social Cohesion and Family, Maria-Alexandra Kefala. Since the beginning of the year, 134 women have activated the panic button and said that, “We are expanding the use of the panic button to help more women in our country feel safer if they experience violence or their physical integrity is threatened. We will intensify our efforts to break the cycle of violence and create a culture of zero tolerance towards violence, regardless of where it occurs and who the perpetrator is.”
To connect to the button a woman must provide a digital code, social security number (AMKA), full name, cell phone number, exact address and floor, name for home calls, history of violent incidents, presence of weapons with the offender, presence of children and/or pregnancy, signs of addiction and/or mental illness in the potential offender’s history.
thenationalherald
