“Patrol car is no taxi, ma’am”

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Dear Member,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.

A 28-year-old woman was murdered while exiting the police station where she had resorted to protection as her ex-partner was harassing her outside her house.

She fell dead by her ex’s knife while on the phone with the police emergency “100,” which the police station officers instructed her to call to request a patrol car to reach home safely. The station officers said they could not provide one.

She fell dead a bit after the police operator told her, “a patrol car is no taxi,” and she started walking home on foot. The culprit stabbed her 2 meters away from the police guard outpost. Bonus detail: The guard served in prison for a crime and was later irrevocably convicted.

The fact

A 28-year-old woman was murdered by her partner on Monday, 1 April, circa 22.30 at right, outside a police station where she had gone to ask for protection.

This is what happened (Öffnet in neuem Fenster):

On Monday night, 28-year-old Kyriaki Griva, escorted by a friend, went to the police department of Agioi Anargyroi area, Athens, to ask for protection because she was scared of her 39-year-old ex-partner.

The woman asked the police officers to return home in a police patrol car as she was afraid to get back on her own. Her ex was stalking her for days, and on that day, she had been outside her house for hours.

However, the officer on duty told her she should call the police emergency line “100” cause this -she said- was the procedure to request a patrol car.

The woman started walking out of the department while talking on the phone with “100”. The officer on the line had told her he could only send a police vehicle to her house as a “police car is no taxi” and advised her to walk back home. The woman suddenly realized the 39-year-old was close. She turned around towards the police station to escape him. The perpetrator ran after her, and within seconds, he stabbed her to death.

Initially, reports claimed she was murdered 50 meters away (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) from the police station entrance. Yet, videos emerged showing the victim falling just next to the officer guarding the entrance.

A conversation that should not have taken place

The countdown started at 21.30 when the perpetrator was rounding the victim outside her house, doing circles with his motorbike. He was stalking her every day. Last Monday, she decided to go to the police department, some 900 meters away from her house.

What happened since she arrived at the police department at 22.10 is an illustrative example of what makes Greece a parody of a state.

Four officers were there - two men and two women. The officer on duty, the deputy head who had arrived in a patrol car, the driver of the patrol car, and the guard who was in his outpost at the time of the assault.

Live News reported (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) after the incident that there was a patrol car outside the department, but the policemen did not transfer the woman to her home. According to what the officers told her, a patrol car can offer its service to a citizen only after emergencies are contacted. The officers let her call the police emergency line herself and make the request.

It should be remembered that the police are obliged to transfer citizens into a police vehicle when needed.

The conversation with the police emergency line officer is revealing, though.

This is how it went:

The police officer on the phone (P): Police Emergencies.
Victim (V): Yes, hello.
P: Hello.
V: I am at Agioi Anargyroi police department.
P: Yes.
V: I need someone to take me home, because outside my home my ex is waiting, who has psychological problems.
P: So, shall I send it to your home for your ex?
V: Excuse me?
P: Shall I send a patrol car to your home for your ex?
V: No, I am at the police station, and I want to go home, and I am afraid to go alone. I saw him, he was waiting at the door.
P: OK, the patrol car is no taxi ma’am. I will send [one] if you want at your house.
V: OK, send [it] to my house.
P: Address?
V: Aristophanous, Aghioi Anargyroi. How long? How long will it take to be there?
P: I don’t know how long.
V: OK. What shall I do? Wait at the station or start walking there?
P: Have you filed a lawsuit against him?
V: No.
P: So, what is he doing? Why is he waiting?
V: He is waiting to… get back to me, I don’t know. To hit me. He had also come yesterday but didn’t stay so long.
P: Your name?
V: Griva Kyriaki.
P: So, your ex-partner is waiting outside your house with violent intentions against you, right?
V: Yes.
P: With violent intentions against her. How long will it take you to get there? Shall I report it? Do you want me to?
V: I am very close. Very close. In two minutes, I‘ll be there.
P: She is close. Shall I report this at the police station?
V: Now, yes, but I am with a friend, and we want to go home.
P: She is at the police station.
V: Aaaaahh… I am lost; he is here.
P: The ex?
V: Yes, he is here.
P: So shall I report it to the police station?
V: Yes (screams)
P: Are you listening?
[At this moment, screams are heard as she is assaulted, and the mobile falls to the ground]
Her friend: Come here, he killed her…

The perpetrator caught her from the waist and stabbed her (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)for 30 seconds.

The woman’s phone was open for 8 minutes and the operator could hear her screams for help.

The incident was caught on camera.

You can see the video here (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and listen to the audio here (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Police spokeswoman Dimoglidou admitted (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) later that a police vehicle was available at the police station, and they are investigating why no police car was informed to do the transfer.

It was also revealed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) that the police officers did not even take the woman’s details when she went there. After she was murdered, they asked her friend who had escorted her for her name and other information. They were also sitting there inactive, looking at the murderer until his friend indicated who the culprit was.

And it gets more cringy

The murderer had a record (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of bodily harm, violence against employees, verbal abuse, and possession of drugs. The victim had filed a lawsuit in 2020 against him for rape and domestic violence, which she then withdrew.

Two years ago, Kyriaki Griva had reportedly (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) gotten pregnant by the culprit and miscarried when he beat her up.

He was stalking for two days outside her house. The woman reported (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)this to the officer on duty, to whom she asked for help.

The 48-year-old station guard next to whom she fell dead by the murderer’s knife reportedly just stood there doing nothing.

Reportedly (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) also, the officer serving as a guard that night had been convicted to imprisonment by a first instance court as he was involved in a criminal organization case regarding forgery and facilitating foreigners to exit the country. He was suspended for two years by the police. He appealed in 2021, and the prosecutor ordered his imprisonment. He stayed in prison for a year. In 2023, he was released. He managed to return to the police as he kept appealing to the relevant committees. A few days ago, he was irrevocably convicted by Greece’s Supreme Court, the Areios Pagos.

That is, the police re-established an officer with no clean criminal record.

An internal police inquiry has been ordered (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for the case. The head officer of the specific police station has been “removed,” as have the officer who answered the phone at the police emergencies, the guards, and three more officers who were present during the victim’s conversation with the 28-year-old officer on duty. Those on duty in emergencies are also investigated.

“Removed” does not mean suspended. It seems they were just transferred to another police station or office.

The opposition is accusing the government and Citizen Protection Ministry of creating a feeling of insecurity. The Minister replied there would be a full investigation.

The left is to blame for the police officers being reluctant to use their guns in fear of being reported, alternate Citizen Protection minister Mitarachis claimed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), as this could have averted the murder. He added that “we should revise the rules for police interventions as to the use of guns by policemen.”

“How many times has a police officer intervened successfully? There are many such cases”, Health Minister Georgiadis said.

Speaking in Parliament, Family and Social Cohesion Minister Zacharaki denied (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) that the term “femicide” should be incorporated into the Penal Code. It said that the government considers sufficient safeguards in the strict penalties already provided by the law.

Government spokesman Marinakis characterized (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) the incident as a “sad exception.” He said such a cold-blooded murder “should not be politicized” and that the Greek police “should not be targeted altogether.”

He stressed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) government initiatives against domestic violence and claimed that “one who would claim such phenomena would vanish would be a charlatan and a dangerous person.”

He further states that no political responsibility should be attributed to a minister “just because some officer did not do their job well; these things don’t happen in serious democracies.”

We would agree with the government spokesman in the last part of his sentence:

These things don’t happen in serious democratic states.