Italian police
The Italian police paradox
The competition amongst the Italian police corps is the main problem of the increasing criminality in Italy.
Between 1998 and 1999 the number of crimes has increased of more than 500,000. Only 6% of the stolen items are recovered (28% in Germany, 24% in the UK and 15% in France). More than three homicides out of ten remain unsolved – the worst statistic in Europe compared to Germany where 95% of the homicides have a culprit (Spain 94%, UK 92% and France 83%). In Japan a killer has only three chances out of 100 of not being arrested. Is Italy the country of the perfect murder? If so, it would be a paradox, because Italy has 30% more police officers than the other European nations (488 officers per 100,000 inhabitants, while the European average is 375). We have police investigators envied by other countries, but an investigative apparatus that nobody want. The investigation system does not work because jammed by too many officers. Too many police corps – Carabinieri, Polizia and Guardia di Finanza – that instead of co-operating with each other, try to double-cross one another in a twist competitive way that produce poor results. The corps are most of the time involved in the same cases and try to follow the major number of operations instead of achieving the best results. The operation bases that try to co-ordinate the operation and dislocate patrol cars on the territory exist, but because of the historical competition between Carabinieri and Polizia, if the Polizia send a car somewhere, the Carabinieri do the same. The motto is “get first especially if is a front-page case”.
Moreover, the new computerise IBM system that was suppose to substitute the old – and mainly manual – Polizia’s database STAIRS system by last January, is not ready yet. It will be ready (maybe) next year. Most of the police bases do not have computers – but neither pens nor paper, due to last L200 million governmental cut. 10 computers of the Bologna police station have been donated by the Catholic charity organisation of father Marella. In Florence the money for the pens and paper have been collected amongst the officers. In Milan, only 38 out of 107 patrol cars work properly. Some of them have been parked in the garage for months because of a flat tyre or a scratch. The new Fiat Marea patrol cars do not have room inside for the anti-bullet jackets. So in case of need the officers have to get out of the car and get the jackets from the boot. To have fingerprint checks can take 48 hours, but the alleged criminal can not be stopped for more than 12 hours. There are 1 million video-cams all-over the country, but only a few of them have been used to identify criminals. But something is changing: 400 police officers who where in charge of delivering documents or tickets are now in the street with a different duty. Postmen are doing their job. Who knows, maybe they will catch some more thieves.