Summary

An opinion piece published on the Apokoronas municipality website argues that policing in small, traditional communities must be built on trust and discretion rather than control and constant presence. The author contends that excessive enforcement breeds suspicion and social tension, ultimately damaging the relationship between residents and the state. The text does not announce any specific policy change — it is an editorial position reflecting the author's views.

Safety and freedom: an opinion from Apokoronas

Security is widely accepted as a cornerstone of community life. People should be able to move freely, raise their children without fear, and participate in local culture and civic life with confidence. But a commentary published on the Apokoronas municipal website raises an uncomfortable question: what happens when policing itself becomes a source of tension?

The particular weight of policing in small villages

In small, close-knit communities — like the villages of Apokoronas and the wider Cretan countryside — a police officer is rarely a stranger. He or she is often a neighbour, a familiar face, someone known to local families. According to the author, this proximity carries both opportunity and responsibility. When police work is carried out with proportionality and discretion, it strengthens social peace and public trust.

When control tips into pressure

The text argues, however, that when enforcement becomes an end in itself — when citizens feel they are treated as suspects rather than as members of society — the effect is the opposite of what is intended. Excessive pressure, the author writes, breeds suspicion. Constant surveillance damages the trust between the public and the state. Communities with deep roots, living traditions, and strong social bonds, the piece argues, require sensitivity and mutual respect, not a show of force.

Trust, not fear

The central argument is that real security does not come from fear of authority, but from a felt sense of justice, balance, and respect. The author calls for a state presence that protects without suffocating, that works preventively rather than demonstratively, and that earns rather than imposes its authority.

The piece makes no specific policy proposals and announces no municipal decisions. It is an opinion column, and the views expressed are those of its author. The fact that it appears on the official municipal website means it represents, at minimum, a perspective the municipality is willing to platform publicly.

Written by Char. Koukianakis: "Societies Flourish with Security – but Breathe Only with Freedom and Respect"

May 18, 2026, 7:33 AM

Policing is a foundation of organised society.

It is not only the enforcement of the law; it is the sense that the citizen can walk freely in his place, raise his children without fear, create, invest, participate in cultural and collective life with dignity and trust.

Particularly in small and closed societies, such as the societies of the Greek periphery, Crete and Apokoronas, the presence of the police has a deeper significance.

The police officer is not an impersonal civil servant. He is often the person next door, the fellow citizen, the family acquaintance, the one called upon to balance between the observance of the law and the cohesion of the community.

When policing operates with measure, seriousness and discretion, it reinforces social peace.

It provides the sense of security that every local community needs in order to flourish.

Security is a prerequisite for development. And development is a prerequisite for people remaining in their place.

When, however, policing becomes an end in itself, when it loses the human dimension and the discretion that closed societies require, then the result often becomes the opposite of what is sought.

Excess breeds suspicion.

Constant pressure creates social tension.

The sense of surveillance instead of protection damages the relationship of trust between the citizen and the State.

No society can move forward when citizens feel that they are being treated collectively as suspects rather than as active cells of society.

Particularly in places with strong bonds, history, traditions and deep social cohesion, delicacy of handling and mutual respect are required.

Security is not imposed only through checks and a strong presence of forces.

It is built primarily through trust, cooperation and justice.

Local communities that produce culture, that keep traditions alive, that struggle every day to keep young people in their place, need neither abandonment nor excessive repression.

They need a State that is present, just and wise.

A form of policing that inspires security and not fear.

That protects without causing social suffocation.

That operates preventively and not ostentatiously.

Because the true strength of the State is not seen when it imposes itself upon society, but when it earns society's trust.

And true security is not born from fear of power, but from the sense of justice, balance and respect towards the person and his place.

Societies flourish with security.

But they breathe only with freedom, dignity and respect.