President of the Xanthi Police Union Movement makes statement on domestic violence

Nikos Gounaridis:

"We need to change the structure of the Police through specialisation as is being done -very rightly- with domestic violence, so that all incidents are dealt with effectively, without, however, under-functioning other Police services"

The reopening of the Police on a new basis, in order to meet the needs of society, with the main objective being the sense of security of citizens, says Mr. Nikos Gounaridis, President of the Syndicalist Movement of Police Officers of Xanthi, when asked about the processes that have been initiated by the competent ministry, after the incident of femicide outside the Police Station of Agioi Anargyroi.

More specifically, according to what has been made known, in the previous period, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, more than 17,000 police officers have already been trained in domestic violence. While, in 2022, he had announced the operation of 12 new offices to deal with domestic violence in police stations throughout the country.

"Although there are a number of specially trained police officers in dealing with incidents of domestic violence to staff the corresponding office in Xanthi, the shortage of human resources continues to be an inhibiting factor in the effective action of such services" as Mr. Nikos Gounaridis comments, for his part, reiterating, once again, the issue of "shortage" that plagues the Xanthi Police Directorate.

"We need to change the structure of the Police through specialization as it is going to be done -very rightly- with domestic violence, so that all incidents can be dealt with effectively, without, however, underfunctioning other services of the Police. For this to happen, specialisation must cover all issues and, by extension, there must be an appropriate number of police officers who are exclusively occupied with the subject of their specialisation and are not burdened with other issues that distract them from their main area of activity. In other words, it is unthinkable that someone who has been trained in dealing with domestic violence should also be involved in the issue of stray animals, shoplifting and so on. Essentially, those who are trained in domestic violence should only deal, in effect, with domestic violence offences," he adds.

Finally, Mr. Nikos Gounaridis believes that the issue of domestic violence should be treated as a social phenomenon where the role of the Police is that of prosecution, while the role of the State should be that of prevention, taking into account the fact that the increase in poverty and the fall in living standards contribute decisively to the increase in violence and crime.

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