GREECE’S FORGOTTEN ROOT CHALLENGE: HUMAN SECURITY

On March 1st, in Athens, three heavily armed casual armed robbers opened fire on a Greek Police motorcycle patrol team killing two young officers and wounding two others. The perpetrators -- who are still at large as of this writing -- literally ambushed the pursuing police with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a pistol, tools of the trade that are now found almost routinely in the possession of dregs of society who stop at a kiosk to rob the owner of $1,400.

The killings have shocked an already demoralized police force, whose members have been subjected to crippling salary and overtime cuts by the Papandreou regime, obedient executor of IMF/EU/ECB demands aimed to protect Greece’s lenders but not its unfortunate natives. In the wake of this unprecedented incident, police labor organizers and other patrol officers are voicing desperate calls against the government’s denuding of the police budget without the slightest regard for operational readiness and the day-to-day battling of burgeoning, and largely imported, violent crime.

After the lethal ambush, Papandreou’s government spokesman repeated the oft-quoted and deeply fatigued claim that Greece is among the “safest” countries of the EU; the spokesman conveniently forgot stark police statistics that demonstrate how “the cradle of democracy” is being hammered by every kind of violent crime that has driven Greeks behind armored house doors, steel-barred windows, and round-the-clock surveillance systems virtually non-existent in this country only two short decades ago......................

more see: http://www.rieas.gr/component/content/article/29-first-page/1468-greeces-forgotten-root-challenge-human-security.html