Decree on establishment of ‘Greek FBI’ published

A presidential decree establishing a new police directorate, dubbed the “Greek FBI” by high-ranking police and Citizen Protection Ministry officials, was published in the Government Gazette on Thursday.

The Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (DAOE) will be based in Attica but will be active throughout the state. While it will enjoy administrative autonomy, the new body will be supervised, coordinated, directed and controlled by the head of the Hellenic Police.

The decree also foresees the establishment in Thessaloniki of a Sub-Directorate for Combating Organized Crime in Northern Greece, which will be subordinate to the DAOE in Athens.

The DAOE will be charged with dismantling domestic and cross-border criminal organizations, investigating money laundering, monitoring the development and trends of serious and organized crime as well as the study of the methods of combating it.

As reported earlier this year, the new directorate will absorb five police divisions, four of them now under the Attica Security Sub-Directorate: Narcotics; Crimes against Life and Property; Organized Crime; and Sports Violence; a fifth division, Financial Crimes, will be added.

The decree will come into force on September 1.