The Hellenic Police is planning on instating Panic Buttons for minors, previously limited to cases of domestic abuse, to combat the rise in juvenile violence across the country.
This initiative primarily aims to target areas where incidents of assault among minors are recurring in Athens and other cities. A project to map juvenile violence around Greece is also currently underway.
“The police are taking necessary actions to quickly implement such a procedure as well as to set up a hotline that underage victims of assault and their parents can contact” Hellenic Police Spokesperson Kostantia Dimoglou told MEGA channel.
Until the implementation of such a procedure is complete, both security police and officers from the Sub-Directorate of Minors’ Protection have been stationed at violence hotspots to prevent incidents from breaking out, she stated.
In regards to domestic abuse cases, authorities intend to make the Panic Button available nationwide given its success in saving victims from assault, even femicide, as, according to Dimoglou, “in no case of activation [of the Panic Button] did the abuser manage to reach the victim.”
