Around 6,000 police on VIP protection details

Some 4,000 police officers are assigned to VIP security details and an additional 2,000 are guarding “sensitive targets,” Kathimerini understands, after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis recently vowed that 2,500 of these officers will be reassigned to regular duties. He further pledged to reduce his own security detail by half.

Citizen Protection Ministry insiders, meanwhile, say that around 1,500 officers currently tasked with guarding public figures and celebrities will transition to combating crime within the next 30 days. Another 1,000 officers are expected to be released from their current duties by early next year.

Among the 6,000 police personnel posted to security details, however, many are responsible for guarding former MPs who have not held elected positions for a decade or more, retired senior Hellenic Police (ELAS) officers and business figures who do not qualify as sensitive targets. Some of them have even been assigned to protect locations that have previously been subjected to vandalism, such as cemeteries.