Dimitrios Bayraktaris

Dimitrios Bayraktaris (also Bairaktaris) was a Greek military figure of the late 19th Century who made a name for himself as Athens Chief of Police.

Bayraktaris was born in 1833 in Agrinio, present-day Aitoloakarnania prefecture, of Souliote ancestry. He volunteered for the army at an early age and reached the rank of Colonel, distinguishing himself during the Cretan revolt of 1866 and the Greco-Turkish War (1897).

In 1893, PM Charilaos Trikoupis appointed him Chief of Police of Athens. Bayraktaris concentrated his efforts on eradicating the trouble-making Koutsavakides (Manges) from the Greek capital. His measures were often extreme and included cutting off the sleeves of their jackets, shaving off their moustaches, cutting off their belts and publically parading and humiliating them in the city's squares.

In 1896, he came up with the unusual idea to have the local koutsavakides police foreign pickpockets during the 1896 Olympiad. His idea worked as there was not a single reported incident during the first modern Olympic Games.

Bayraktaris died in 1900.