Before the 1984 reform, the public security establishment was divided into the City Police, which had jurisdiction in the cities of Athens, Piraeus, and Patras and the island of Corfu, and the Gendarmerie, which had jurisdiction in the rest of the country. Today, there is a single national police force, the Hellenic Police (Elliniki Astinomia--EL.AS), which operates under the direct supervision and control of the Ministry of Public Order. The commandant of the EL.AS is an officer with the rank of lieutenant general.

The police force remains paramilitary in character, and officers carry sidearms and clubs while on duty. The police occasionally receive training with heavier weapons. Special riot units are equipped with UR-416 APCs, and six NH-300 helicopters are in service, mainly for traffic monitoring. In 1994 the strength of all branches of the EL.AS was approximately 26,500 men and women. In the past, women served only in an auxiliary capacity, but the number of women in the regular force is gradually increasing.

Other branches of the police include the Tourist Police, which operates in Athens and various other tourist areas to protect and assist tourists in any way possible; the Forest Police; and the Customs Police, whose task is to combat smuggling and collect duties at various points of entry into the country. The departmental structure of the EL.AS is similar to that of most major Western police forces. The force includes contingents specializing in cases of homicide, counterfeiting and white-collar crimes, vice, narcotics, and traffic control, as well as special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams.

The problem of illegal migrants has become so acute in the mid1990s that the government is considering creation of a special body of border guards. The objective is to enable Greece to comply with the Schengen accords, which prescribe EU standards for border controls among member-states.

Data as of December 1994

NOTE: The information regarding Greece on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Greece Organization of Public Security information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Greece Organization of Public Security should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.