Итальянская государственная полиция: история и функции

National police force in Italy

The Polizia di Stato (State Police or P. S.) is one of the national police forces of Italy. Alongside the Carabinieri, it is the main police force for providing police duties, primarily to cities and large towns, and with its child agencies it is also responsible for highway patrol (autostrade), railways (ferrovie), airports (aeroporti), customs (together with the Guardia di Finanza) as well as certain waterways, and assisting the local police forces. It was a military force until 1981 when the Italian State Law 121 was passed. This converted the State Police to a civil force, which is in contrast to the other main police forces of Italy: the Arma dei Carabinieri, which is a military police (gendarmerie) force and the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian customs and border protection police that also falls in the military corps category. The Polizia di Stato is the principal Italian police force for the maintenance of public security and as such it is run directly from the Dipartimento della Pubblica Sicurezza (Department of Public Security), and the keeping of public order (ordine pubblico). Interpol summarizes the primary focus of this force: "Its responsibilities include investigative and law enforcement duties, and the security of motorway, railway, and waterway networks".

While the modern Polizia di Stato was created in 1981 with the merger of the many civil police services of Italy, its roots date back to 1852 as the police force of the then Kingdom of Sardinia. It is successor and heir to the traditions of military and civil police organizations under both monarchy and republic.

On 11 July 1852, the King of Sardinia Victor Emmanuel II established the Public Security Guards, a prototype city police service created to serve Turin and Genoa for the protection of their citizens (Law no.1404), and also formed detachments of municipal police. This date is marked as the official anniversary of the State Police. At that time there were a number of provincial National Guard and Municipal Militia battalions, plus cavalry platoons detached from the army and Carabinieri.

In 1859, given the current situation in regards to the Unification of Italy, the Public Security Guards became the national civil police defacto of a unified Italian nation. Law 3570 (13 November 1859) officially introduced police inspectors into the growing force, and to ensure the security of the residents of a number of provincial capitals and other major cities, the questori, appointed by the leadership with Royal assent, were also introduced becoming the police chiefs of these areas. On 9 October 1861, the General Directorate of Public Security of the Kingdom was formally established (Royal Decree 225) to serve as the central authority for civilian law enforcement.

Europol (the EU's law enforcement agency), provides this summary of the force's responsibilities: "protecting the state, safeguarding the rights and freedoms of citizens, supervising the maintenance of public order, maintaining public safety, providing assistance to public entities and private in the event of accidents and disasters as well as the peaceful resolution of disputes between private individuals. It also deals with the training and education, at its facilities, of members of other police bodies speciality departments include the Traffic, Railway, Communications Police, the Mobile Departments and the Scientific Police".

The State Police has an authorised strength by law of 115,000 people. However, there are approximately 110,000 people of which 16,000 are women. Just under 6,000 employees are civilian support personnel with technical skills who provide logistic and technical support. In 2005 the State Police contained 105,324 members as follows: 893 dirigenti (leaders/officers), 1,839 vice questori (Vice Questors), 723 commissari capo (Chief Superintendents), 19,230 ispettori (Inspectors), 666 vice ispettori (Sub inspectors), 13,677 sovrintendenti (Sergeants), 38,976 assistenti (Senior agents), and 29,320 agenti (Constables/Agents). Approximately 1,500 officers are assigned to the "neighbourhood police" service, the Polizia di Quartiere, which has a police presence on the streets and deters crime. Pairs of poliziotti (policemen) patrol areas of major cities on foot.

There is a Questura in each of the 105 Italian provincial capitals. It is responsible for all the activities carried out by the Polizia di Stato within the province.

In major cities and highly populated towns, there are police stations named Commissariati di Pubblica Sicurezza (Public Security Offices). Each Commissariato di Pubblica Sicurezza is under the Authority of a Questura. Their task is to control, prevent and fight crime in their jurisdiction, and to deal with paperwork as to, among other things, requests for gun licences, passports, permits, and regularization of foreigners. Polizia di Quartiere is the Quarter Police. Pairs of Poliziotti (Policemen) patrol areas of major cities on foot.

About 24,000 officers, that is almost a quarter of police personnel, work within the Highway Patrol (Polizia Stradale), Railroad Police (Polizia Ferroviaria), Postal and Telecommunications Police (Polizia Postale e delle Telecomunicazioni) and Border and Immigration Police (Polizia di Frontiera).

The Polizia Stradale, or PolStrada for short, is a highway patrol organization. PolStrada police public roads all over the country, including the of motorways (autostrada), the main highways and arterial roads outside towns. Their duties are the prevention and detection of driving offences, car accident reports, planning and carrying out of services to regulate traffic, providing escorts for road safety, protection and control of the road network, rescue operations and cooperation in the collection of traffic flow data.

The Polizia Ferroviaria, or PolFer for short, ensure the security of travellers and their belongings on trains and at stations plus the safety and control of dangerous goods. Railroad Police officers patrol, in particular, long distance and night trains, and at stations in big cities where vagrants often accumulate. Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and other Ferrovie dello Stato companies co operate fully with the railroad police in dealing with railway security for passengers.

The Polizia postale e delle comunicazioni, or Polizia Postale for short, investigates all crimes that use communications as part of its modus operandi such as computer hacking, online child pornography, credit card fraud, spreading computer viruses or software copyright violations.

To control the flow of migrants into Italy, the Department of Public Security set up the Immigration and Border Police Service (Polizia di Frontiera), to enforce regulations concerning the entry and stay of aliens in Italy. The service operates at both central and local level with many land, air and maritime border police offices. The service is also responsible for passport control, the issuing of residence permits, as well as the prevention and control of illegal immigration. Although due to the Schengen Agreement the land borders have disappeared, the division is still present on all borders to do systematic or random checks. In airports, the border police are in charge of security (hand baggage searches are done by airport companies or private security companies but are supervised by the Polizia di Frontiera and by the Guardia di Finanza) and immigration checks.

There are 13 mobile units of "Reparto Mobile" located in the main Italian cities. These can be deployed throughout the country to maintain public order with crowd control equipment and vehicles or perform rescue services in areas affected by natural disasters. These units employ personnel that are trained and equipped for their task. The P. d. S.'s bomb disposal units, mounted detachments, canine units, air support squadrons and maritime and river police units all fall under the mobile unit HQ.

The Anti Terrorism Police is a specialist body made up of the Central Directorate for the Anti Terrorism Police and of the Branches for General Investigations and Special Operations Division (DIGOS – Divisione Investigazioni Generali e Operazioni Speciali), located in the questure at the local level. The Directorate for the Anti Terrorism Police has two departments: one is mainly responsible for information collection and analysis while the other develops and coordinates investigations aimed at preventing and fighting terrorism. The Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza (Central Operational Core of Security) is the State Police's elite police tactical unit.

Recruit training is carried out at the police academy and at an advanced school for senior police officers. There are schools for basic training of cadet officers and technical operators, for teaching police specialities, for instructors, pilots, dog handlers and mounted police officers and the community police school.

The standard service pistol of the Polizia di Stato is the Beretta Model 92FS; other sidearms might be made available to police personnel according to necessities and assignments. In addition, a Beretta PM 12S submachine gun is issued to every squad car. Other firearms, such as the Beretta 70/90 assault weapons system, Heckler & Koch MP5 sub machine guns and Benelli shotguns are in service with the corps and can either be issued to the general personnel according to particular necessities or to the specialities the officers are assigned to. A 40mm grenade launcher, the GL 40/90, manufactured by Luigi Franchi S. p. A. under license from Heckler & Koch of Germany is the standard issue weapon for riot control operations.

The State Police use Italian vehicles ranging from 1994 Fiat Puntos to the Alfa Romeo 159 2,4 JTD, and the Alfa Romeo 155 8v and foreign makes such as the Subaru Legacy SW and Subaru Forester, BMW E46 and E91, and the Volvo XC70. In May 2004 the PdS received two Lamborghini Gallardos equipped with V10 engines and in the classic blue white livery with accessories such as a container for transporting organs and a defibrillator. The cars are used on the A3 Salerno Reggio Calabria and the A14 Bologna Taranto motorways. On 29 November 2009, one of the two Gallardos was severely damaged in an accident while returning from a public display in Cremona: it crashed into some parked cars while avoiding another car which crossed the road illegally. The Gallardo was fully insured, and is currently being repaired by Lamborghini itself. On 30 March 2017 the PdS received the second Lamborghini Huracán equipped with V10 engines and 520 bhp in the classic blue white livery with accessories such as a container for transporting organs and a defibrillator.

Rank Technical Rank Medical Rank Insignia Cap band Promotion notes Primo dirigente(First Director) Primo dirigente tecnico Primo dirigente medico Promotion to Primo dirigente through selection after 5 years as Vice Questore. Vice Questore(Deputy Chief) Direttore tecnico superioreMedico superiore Promotion to Vice Questore through selection after 5 years as Vice Questore aggiunto. Vice Questore Aggiunto(Assistant Deputy Chief) Direttore tecnico capo Medico capo After 6 years service as Commissario capo: 80% of the promotions going to direct entry officers after scrutiny. 20% of the promotions going to internal entry officers with a master's degree after a promotional exam. Commissario Capo(Chief Commissioner) Commissario capo tecnico Medico principale Direct after graduation from the police academy for those who entered through direct entry. For others, after 5 years service as Commissario. Commissario(Commissioner) Commissario tecnico Medico After two years service as Vice commissario for internal entry officers. Vice Commissario(Deputy Commissioner) Vice Commissario tecnico Direct entry: 80% from candidates with a Master's Degree and not over 30 years old. 20% are reserved for serving policemen with a Master's Degree, and not over 40 years of age; half of them from the Ispettori, half from the other ranks. They are holding the rank of Vice commissario at the academy. Internal entry: 80% from Ispettori with a bachelor's degree, 5 years of service, not over 35 years of age. 20% from Sostituto Commissari not over 55 years old. They are promoted to the rank of Vice commissario after graduation from the academy.

RankTechnical rank Insignia Cap band Promotion notes Sostituto Commissario Coordinatore(Station Inspector Coordinator) Sostituto Commissario Coordinatore tecnico Promotion to Ispettore Superiore Sostituto Commissario Coordinatore after 4 years of service as Ispettore Superiore Sostituto Commissario. Sostituto Commissario(Station Inspector) Sostituto Commissario tecnico Promotion to Ispettore Superiore Sostituto Commissario based on scrutiny and at least 8 years of service as Ispettore Superiore. Ispettore Superiore(Senior Inspector) Ispettore Superiore tecnico Promotion to Ispettore Superiore based on scrutiny and at least 9 years of service as Ispettore Capo, as well as the possession of a Bachelor's degree. Ispettore Capo(Chief Inspector) Ispettore Capo tecnico Promotion to Ispettore Capo after scrutiny. Ispettore(Inspector) Ispettore tecnico Promotion to Ispettore after 5 years of service as Vice ispettore Vice Ispettore(Sub inspector) Vice Ispettore tecnico 50% are recruited through direct entry from civilian life; 50% are recruited from lower ranks with at least 5 years of service. For both recruitments a secondary school diploma qualifying for university studies are required.

Rank Technical rank Insignia Cap band Promotion notes Sovrintendente Capo Coordinatore(Chief Sergeant Coordinator) Sovrintendente Capo Coordinatore tecnico Promotion to Sovrintendente capo coordinatore after 8 years of service as Sovrintendente capo Sovrintendente Capo(Chief Sergeant) Sovrintendente Capo tecnico Promotion to Sovrintendente capo based on scrutiny and at least 5 years of service as Sovrintendente Sovrintendente(Sergeant) Sovrintendente tecnico Promotion to Sovrintendente after 5 years of service as an Vice sovrintendente Vice Sovrintendente(Sub Sergeant) Vice Sovrintendente tecnico 70% are recruited through selection from Assistente Capo; 30% from Agenti and Assistenti with at least 4 years of service through an examination.