The newly-recruited special guards, who are going to staff the University Police or, officially, the University Institutions Protection Teams, took over the duties yesterday.

These are 360 ​​guards who attended the Attica and Thessaloniki General Police Directorates yesterday to receive their transfer documentation. Male and female university police officers completed the necessary paperwork and received service notes to report to police stations and take on their duties.

Two hundred and sixty of them will remain in Attica and attend departments of the Athens Police Directorate near the Polytechnic City where they will patrol, while another 100 will receive a service note for Thessaloniki as they will serve at the Aristotle University.

Their duties include patrols at the university campuses and, until the rectors place the special turnstiles in the institutions as provided by law, the university police will also patrol outside the university building.

The said police officers attended a five-month training program at the Police Officers’ School in Komotini, which was completed on May 17th. They were given a fortnightly leave and yesterday they were called to take on their duties. 

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However, the presidential decree defining the internal structure and operation of the University Police has not yet been signed. On the contrary, in the act for the digitization of procedures of the Hellenic Police, submitted to the Parliament, there is an article which provides that the 360 ​​newly-recruited personnel will perform the duties of special guards until the University Police is established.

In recent public statements, however, the Minister of Civil Protection, Takis Theodorikakos, has clarified that the new police officers will immediately take on to patrol the campuses, either armed or accompanied by armed police officers.

The patrols will be mixed as there will be reinforcements from police officers of the DIAS unit. In July and August, when the universities are closed, the university police officers will serve in police stations as special guards to combat crime.

With information from: CNN Greece, Daily

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