Law enforcement in Italy is provided by eight separate police forces, six of which are national groups in Italy.
During 2005 in Italy, the number of active police officers from all agencies totaled 324,339, the highest number in the European Union both overall and per capita, twice the number of agents in the similarly sized United Kingdom.[1]
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The Carabinieri is the common name for the Arma dei Carabinieri, a Gendarmerie-like military corps with police duties. They also serve as the Italian military police.
The Carabinieri have become a separate armed force (alongside the Army, Navy and Air Force), thus ending their long standing tradition as the First Corps (Arma) of the Italian Army (Esercito). They are referred to as the Arma or La Benemerita (The Meritorious Corps).
Carabinieri units have been dispatched all over the world in peacekeeping missions, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2004, twelve Carabinieri were killed in a suicide bomb attack on their base in Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq. This was Italy's largest military loss in a single action since World War II.
Until 2001,[2] only men were allowed to become part of the Arma (or any military force, for that matter), but military reforms allow women to serve in the Italian military, including Carabinieri.
The Guardia di Finanza, (English: Financial Guard) is a corps of the Italian Army under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance, with a role as police force.
The Corps is in charge of financial, economic, judiciary and public safety: tax evasion, financial crimes, smuggling, money laundering, international illegal drug trafficking, illegal immigration, customs and borders checks, copyright violations, anti-Mafia operations, credit card fraud, cybercrime, counterfeiting, terrorist financing, maintaining public order, and safety, political and military defense of the Italian borders.
The Guardia di Finanza has around 68,000 militaries among agents, NCOs and officers. Its agents are in service in the Europol and the European Anti-Fraud Office. Its Latin motto since 1933 is Nec recisa recedit (English: Not Even Broken Retreats). The Guardia di Finanza also maintains over 600 boats and ships and more than 100 aircraft to fulfill its mission of patrolling Italy's territorial waters.
The Polizia di Stato (State Police) is the civil national police of Italy. Along with patrolling, investigative and law enforcement duties, it patrols the Autostrada (Italy's Express Highway network), and oversees the security of railways, bridges and waterways.
It is a civilian police force, while the Carabinieri are military. While its internal organization and mindset is somewhat military, its personnel is composed of civilians. Its headquarters are in Rome, and there are Regional and Provincial divisions throughout Italian territory.
A program Polizia di Quartiere has been implemented which increases police presence and deter crime. Pairs of poliziotti (policemen) or carabinieri patrol areas of major cities on foot. Its critics contend that these efforts are ineffective, as the areas with the greatest concentration of crime are being neglected.
The Polizia Penitenziaria (Prison Guards, literally Penitentiary Police) operate the Italian prison system and handle the transportation of inmates. The training academy for the Polizia Penitenziaria is located in Aversa.
The Corpo Forestale dello Stato (National Forestry Department) is responsible for law enforcement in Italian national parks and forests. Their duties include enforcing poaching laws, safeguarding protected animal species and preventing forest fires. Founded in 1822, the Corpo Forestale dello Stato is a civilian police force specialised on the environmental protection. A recent law reform expanded its duties to food controls.[3] In Italy it has the responsibility to manage the activities related to the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)
Polizia Provinciale operate in only some of the 109 provinces of Italy. Their main duties are to enforce regional and national hunting and fishing laws but they have also expanded into wildlife management and environmental protection. The forces' vehicles are white, with a green stripe along the side.
In addition, each comune has its own Polizia Municipale (municipal police) whose main duty is to enforce local regulations and control traffic, but who also deal with petty crime and anti-social behaviour, especially in the largest metropolitan areas. These forces can be called Polizia Municipale, Polizia Locale, Polizia Comunale, Polizia Urbana or Vigili Urbani.
In some regions Polizia Provinciale and Polizia Municipale are grouped into the Polizia Locale name, although they keep their own internal organisation. Very little comunes can merge their local police forces in a consortium.
The OVRA, Organizzazione di Vigilanza Repressione dell'Antifascismo Organization for Vigilance in Repression of Anti-Fascism was a secret police organization in Italy during fascism.
The Polizia dell'Africa Italiana or PAI (Police of Italian Africa) (1936–1944).
The Italian Republican National Guard (Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana, or GNR) was a paramilitary force of the Italian Social Republic created by decree on December 8, 1943, replacing the Carabinieri and the MVSN.
Zaptié were locally raised gendarmerie units in the Italian colonies of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Colonia Primigenia and Somalia between 1889 and 1942.
Until recently, all Italian police forces were equipped with Italian-made police cars, with FIAT and Alfa Romeos most common. A patrol car belonging to Polizia is nicknamed Pantera (Panther), one used by the Carabinieri is nicknamed Gazzella (Gazelle) and every unmarked car is called a Civetta (Owl).
Every force has helicopters, trucks and campers (used as mobile offices usually in undercover missions). In Venice, which is built across several islands linked by bridges and surrounded by water, public security and fire brigades work with boats.
In 2004, Lamborghini donated two Lamborghini Gallardo police cars to the Polizia di Stato on their 152nd anniversary. On the 31st November 2009 one of these 165,000-euro cars was written off in a road accident near the northern Italian town of Cremona where it was on display at a student jobs fair. The car apparently swerved to avoid another vehicle crossing its path and collided with two stationary vehicles, it has been repaired in January 2010.
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