Several police equipment upgrades are coming in 2021, in response to both the coronavirus pandemic and external security threats, General Secretary for Public Order Konstantinos Tsouvalas said on Thursday. A budget of 23 million euros is to be spent.
In 2020, a budget of 20 million euros helped purchase essential supplies that had been needed for 15 years, he noted.
The purchases included 2,450 police cars, 23,000 bullet-proof jackets, 8,000 uniforms and 4,000 specialized uniforms for police officers riding motorcycles.
In 2021, a budget of 23 million euros will help procure specific operational vehicles: some 40-80 police cars with specially fitted cabins for the transportation of Covid19-positive detainees, 4 special ambulances, 5 armored vehicles and 4 special operations vehicles will also become available, with the latter two types designated for operations similar to those observed at the Greek-Turkish border in March 2020, Tsouvalas pointed out.
PS In the last two years, Greece focuses on strengthening police and defense in a country with a functioning democracy with no internal threats and hardly any war risk from abroad despite the ongoing verbal threats from neighboring Turkey. We hardly hear about euros flowing into two sectors that urgently need them: Education and Health. Especially in Health shortages in medical doctors and nurses are chronic, even if the pandemic was to exterminated next week. *sigh*
What is interesting is when it comes to expenditure in Covid-19 and the health sector, the Greek government claims it is a “temporary emergency. But not when it comes to purchase 40 to 80 police cars for the transportation of Covid-19 positive detainees.
