In this event today, we are celebrating the opening of the Communication and Service Department to the Retired Officers, which is of great significance to all of us.

Today we are actually celebrating a new concept which governs the relationship between the Police Force Headquarters and the Retired Officers.

In this way, the role played by Officers retiring from active service acquires new prospects and their presence now has a different meaning.

Personally, I feel great honor and strong emotions to be among dear friends and colleagues with whom we have had close cooperation and with whom we have fought the same battles for security and social stability.

It is a common belief that in this crucial post-Olympic age, the citizens΄ security in their everyday lives is a matter of outmost priority for the Hellenic Police Force.

Today, collective security is a significant prerequisite for social cohesion, prosperity and growth.

The Police Force is called upon to make steps forward, rising up to the challenges and fulfilling the expectations of the State and the citizens.

We seek substantial support from the retired Officers in this effort, since it is they with their know-how and expertise, after their long years in the Force, who can participate and help to achieve our common goal.

The Hellenic Police Force considers that the links with the staff retiring from active service must remain not only strong but also productive. That is why the Hellenic Police Force has created the new Communication and Service Department for the Retired Officers within the Public Relations Division of the Headquarters, which we are inaugurating today.

This new Department aims at:

a) Informing the Hellenic Police Force Headquarters on the demands of the Retired Officers and forwarding those in order for them to be examined.
b) Following-up their cases and briefing interested unions.
c) Securing communication channels between on one hand, Retired Officers Unions? representatives and individual Retired Officers and on the other, the leadership of the Force.
d) Providing for the participation of Retired Officers to the social and cultural events of the Force.
e) Taking steps to enlarge and enhance the relationship between Retired Officers and active ones, so as to reach a common ground for thought and mutual acceptance.

In this context, we are putting forward a set of actions which prove our real feelings towards the Retired Officers and in particular:

1)  As a token of the significant way in which Officers had offered to our society during their term in office, we are making legislative arrangements so that All Saint?s Day is officially declared as the occasion to officially honor the retired staff of the Hellenic Police Force.
2)  We are planning to facilitate the participation of Retired Officials in volunteering schemes. This institution was highly successful during the Olympic Games and therefore, we believe that the retired officials could voluntarily help a great deal with the police work.
3)  A special column in the Police Review magazine will be dedicated to the retired officers and the matters of their concern, under the responsibility of the Headquarters.
4)  A special timeframe in the leadership?s schedule, fixed by the Communication and Service Department for the Retired Officers, will be dedicated to hearing the Retired Officers and the Representatives of their Unions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am addressing our Retired Colleagues and I would like to point out that in my quality as Hellenic Police Force Chief, I strongly believe in the very high prospects of this new Service. I am sure that you will immediately embrace it and be actively present in its activities, so that it can achieve its goals and constitute a point of reference for all retired colleagues. I wish to the staff of this new Service all the best in their tasks.

Thank you very much.