Domestic violence against women has shown a spike in the first ten months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, Hellenic Police said.
Specifically, Greek police records show that 18, 427 incidents were recorded in January-October 2024 compared to 9,860 in the same period of 2023.
The majority of the victimes were women, and the perpetrators men. Specifically, in Jan.-Oct. 2024, there were 5,583 male victims and 15,571 female ones. For the same period, the gender of perpetrators was 15,413 males and 3,565 females.
Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chryssochoidis has repeatedly cautioned that the increase in incidents is not entirely attributed to a rise in incidents alone, but includes a rise in the reporting of domestic violence to authorities.
On the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25, Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) spoke with officers at the Police Directorate of Piraeus, which includes one of the original six offices to manage domestic violence that opened in Greece in 2021.
Piraeus office
Head of the Piraeus Office Managing Domestic Violence, Lieutenant Christos Kostas, revealed that the offices work 24/7. “Our doors are open for any victim of domestic violence – which in their overwhelming majority are women – who wants to come to be briefed or to register an incident,” he said. The offices cooperate with all facilities related to domestic violence and with all those private or public spaces (mostly public), where a woman or a child may go for such incidents.
Kostas said that most incidents the office sees require police to intervene legally, investigatively, or suppressively, although women also come for information. “We put a lot of effort every day and the maximum in all incidents and all women that need us,” Kostas said. “We don’t go home until we arrest the perpetrator. We try every way, we note the addresses of his home, his workpace, the places he hangs out, and we go everywhere the law allows us. If we do not find the perpetrator, we ensure the victim is safe,” he added.
The incidents involve Greeks and migrants and several social classes, he revealed, while the victim usually has low self-esteem, has been rendered unable by its domestic partner to do something, or has few options to exercise control of its life, while victims often have been treated abusively in their childhood or were witnesses to abuse. He also said that even if a woman returns to her husband or partner after violence, police call her the day after or a few days after to check on her.
‘Panic button’
In terms of perpetrators, the police officer said, they usually have mental issues, while this may be combined with substance abuse (drugs, alcohol, gambling), leading to aggressive and violent behavior of any form.
Commenting on the ‘panic button’ system, Kostas said “it is a preventative means, a means that has truly helped a lot women who have installed it, as they can quietly press a button and we can be there immediately to prevent worse situations.” He said that police tried to make women seeking information at the police station of the use of the panic button, which is installed on a cellphone.
Asked by ANa-MPA on the number of female victims of domestic violence who decide to go to a safe house run by the Greek police, Kostas said that police arrest the perpetrator, collect evidence, and provide women with support before such a move, which is radical for her. “If we cannot manage to find the perpetrator within the legal 24-hour limit, then we try to approach the victim with compassion and convince her to move to a safe house. Every case is different,” he said.
As to the stress police in domestic violence units face, the Greek police official said that there’s a high stress factor and burnout, as a British study found. “Initially, there is the stress rising from urgent action that must take place to protect a domestic violence victim when police is notified. At the same time, it is to be expected that the frequency of these incidents and the toxic daily reality tax you emotionally,” Kostas added.
