ΑΤΗΕΝS — Anticipating swarms of tourists on the most popular islands when Greece opens generally to visitors on May 15, police reinforcements are being sent to Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes, places where there are major gathering spots or wild parties, with worries still over the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 100 officers are being transferred to Mykonos alone, said Kathimerini, an island notorious for tax cheating and uncontrollable parties, even when the pandemic was raging in 2020, people retreating to private villas to go undetected.

The island has also been assigned a new police chief to oversee the expanded force, which will include departments dedicated to road safety and street policing, the paper said.

They aren't there just to corral tourists, however, but to go after organized crime ad burglary rackets that proliferate in the spring and summer and prey on tourists, the island a draw for them.

The Citizens’ Protection Ministry also wants the officers to key on private parties that could spread the Coronavirus although only people who are fully vaccinated or can show proof of negative tests are allowed to travel there.