ATHENS – Greece's police department will make use of the electronic age to digitize a range of public services at local precincts so that more police can be put on duty where they are mostly needed, patrolling and other duties.

The Citizen Protection Ministry said it would make digitizing services a priority as the New Democracy government has made law-and-order a benchmark of its administration, which has drawn critics complaining that's too aggressive.

Moving to electronic use has been underway for two years but it was slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic that brought lockdowns aimed at slowing the pandemic, which only partially worked as they were them lifted too early.

New Citizens Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos said one of his main goals is to get police officers out of offices or on to other duties that are more important than stamping papers.

After meeting with Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, he vowed that, “We will give a specific timetable for the changes. Police officers will get up from the desk to go to the neighbourhoods,” reported Kathimerini.

The paper said that according to estimates, some 1,000 uniformed personnel do not perform police duties on a daily basis because they are needed for bureaucratic duties that could be done electronically, without them now.