Editorial: The need to bolster security and public order

A special event regarding security and reducing the crime rate was organised yesterday by the citizen’s protection ministry at Greek Police’s former officers’ training academy.

The timing was both good and bad.

It was positive because a recent opinion poll indicated that 82 percent of the public is worried about crime, so the issue that the government chose to highlight is timely.

The timing was bad because the increased volume of news items from the police log of crime reports that have preoccupied public attention justifies acute worry.

It is absolutely necessary to bolster citizens’ sense of security.

In the bleak climate that has begun to take shape, citizens feel that anyone can commit any crime without being punished to a fitting degree.

The need for people to feel secure in their neighbourhoods is not an issue related to partisan politics.

It is neither right-wing nor left-wing. It is universal.

For that reason, a well-governed state has a duty to create the conditions in which no one need be afraid for his or her life or property.

That objective can be achieved only with actions, not with words.

It requires a constant police presence in every corner of our cities, and it demands that police quickly solve crimes, so that the accused can swiftly be called to justice in the courts.