Italy
| Author | Arvydas Augas, Joseph Serio |
| Pages | 509-520 |
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Official country name: Italian Republic
Capital: Rome
Geographic description: An elongated peninsula in south-central Europe extending into the Mediterranean Sea, bordered inland by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovakia. Includes the islands of Sicily and Sardinia
Population: 58,103,033 (est. 2005)
Prior to the French Revolution, the Italian peninsula was divided into a number of different states. Naples and Sicily were ruled by the Bourbons and the Vatican oversaw most of central Italy. Northern Italy was a blend of Italian speaking provinces that were part of the Austrian Empire and a handful of independent states. Of these small, independent states, the Piedmontese Kingdom of Savoy would play a major role in the development of the Italian state.
The development of policing in Italy was most heavily influenced by the French model. In 1814 Napoléon's forces were withdrawn from northern Italy. The king of the Piedmont was sufficiently impressed by the withdrawing French Gendarmerie Nationale that he created a Corps of Carabinieri, which became known as L'Arma dei Carabinieri. The name referred to the short carbine rifles used by members of the cavalry. During its first few years, the Carabinieri developed a camaraderie and pride that continues to flourish. Many of its initial officers were recruited from the aristocracy while professional soldiers filled the ranks. This unit was given control over both the military and civilian population, and the Napoleonic era influenced the design of the Carabinieri's elegant uniforms. Although they have earned a reputation for incorruptibility, they have also been censured for high-handed tactics in the process of law enforcement.
As Italy moved toward unification in the 1850s, a modern cabinet government was proposed, which included an interior minister who oversaw law enforcement. Due to friction between the "arrogant" domineering Carabinieri and new civilian officials, in 1852 a new police force was recruited, the Corps of Public Security Guards, composed of an amalgam of uniformed street police and civilian officials headed by the chief of police. Over the next 150 years, this civilian-oriented police organization evolved into the Polizia di Stato, an extremely effective and efficient law enforcement agency.
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For much of their early history, the Carabinieri and State Police were embroiled in political infighting with conservative royalists, Garibaldians, anarchists, and Marxists. Although they proved adept at suppressing certain crimes such as theft, much of their attention was focused on national security, with few officers to spare to track down cattle thieves and other mobile criminals. Both police forces remained ineffective to a great extent due to their inability to cooperate with each other. As a result, they became almost autonomous units.
Although the Code of Penal Procedure stipulates and regulates the functions of all Italy's police forces, the policing system as a whole is generally plagued by a lack of coordination, particularly when more than one force has authority over the same area. Some observers, however, see this intense competition between different forces as a necessary safeguard to freedom.
Italy has five national police forces: the L'Arma dei Carabinieri (Carabinieri Corps), the Polizia di Stato (State Police), the Guardia di Finanza the Finance Guard, the Prison Service, and the Agriculture and Forestry Police, with the first three being the primary law enforcement agencies. Crime prevention and safety is also provided on a local level by Polizia Provinciale (Provincial Police) or Polizia Municipale (Municipal Police). In Italy, prison guards, too, of which there are approximately 12,000, are regarded as police officers. They are responsible to the Ministry of Justice.
Police are permitted to use force and/or deadly force in matters of self-defense, to surmount resistance to authority or arrest, and to prevent serious crimes (such as homicide, kidnapping, robbery). However, it is expected that all personnel will use discretion to ensure their reaction is equitable to the danger.
If an individual commits a crime that is punishable by a prison sentence of five to twenty years or more police, by law, police are expected to arrest and incarcerate perpetrators under two scenarios—individuals caught in the act of committing crimes, or those caught immediately after the crime is committed. Police are also expected to arrest individuals who commit crimes with penalties in the Penal Code, Article 380, which mandates sentences of between three and ten years. These crimes include crimes against the state or against public safety, looting, robbery, extortion, terrorism, military and political illegal associations, Mafia activities, and others. Police can arrest and imprison individuals suspected of having committed crimes where penalties require two to six years imprisonment. In all cases of arrest, police, are required to immediately notify the public prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the suspect's family.
Police officers are equipped with handguns, automatic weapons, and batons. Officers are issued a Beretta 92 SB double-action, semiautomatic pistol 9-mm Parabellum (8 or 15 shot), which can be supplemented by ordinary and special-party armaments that must be returned when not on duty. Ordinary armaments are defined as weapons that can be used by all police officers for normal team activities such as routine patrol. Such weapons include rubber or plastic hollow nightsticks between 19 and 24 inches long; Beretta PM 12S fully automatic submachine pistol 9-mm Parabellum (8 or 15 shot), semiautomatic plus slide-action 12-gauge shotguns, and fully automatic, semiautomatic, or bolt-action rifles (5.56 mm or 7.62 NATO mm). Special armaments require special training and are made available only to special police squads such antikidnapping and counterterrorist units. These armaments include the Beretta 92 SB 9-mm, double-action, semiautomatic pistol 9-mm Parabellum (8 or 15 shot), revolvers (.38-caliber special, 357 magnum, 9-mm Parabellum), Beretta PM 12S, machine guns, hand grenades including launching rifle, various explosive devices, bazookas and other self-propelled weapons, and bolt-action rifles. Special and ordinary armaments also include other equipment, including bulletproof vests, 4.5-mm air guns, training pistols and rifles, lights and smoke gadgets, helmets, silencers, night-vision binoculars and scopes, assorted knives, and narcotizing weapons.
Historically, Italy's police forces allowed no women officers. In 1987 only 5 percent of Italy's total police force was women. Reform that began in the early 1990s saw such an increase that by 2000, women comprised more than 50 percent of the force. Women were still not permitted to join the Carabinieri until 2001, and the Finance Police began a major campaign to enlist women only in 2000.
Total Strength of Police Force: 347,841
Population per Police Officer: 167
The Carabinieri traces its roots to 1814 when the Royal License, a corps of foot and equestrian soldiers, was founded. Then, as now, they had a dual function, which still distinguishes them from the other Italian police forces: They are a police force imbued with special duties and powers; and they are military defenders of the nation-state, which means that in the event of military action or mobilization, the Carabinieri is required to join the Army Corps and other armed forces in defense of the homeland. For this reason, members are trained to
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perform military police duties within the three armed forces.
The Carabinieri, under the authority of the Ministry of Defense, is considered an elite force and is organized territorially. Carabinieri Corps headquarters, which controls the entire organization, is based in Rome and headed by the commander general. Headquarters commands, controls, and coordinates the entire force and provides technical and scientific support, recruiting facilities, and a telecommunications center. General staff are responsible for the planning, organization, training, technical, scientific, logistic, and operational functions of the entire corps.
The Carabinieri consists of five main branches:
Organizzadone tenitotiale (territorial branch), comprising five interregional commands (divisions), each headed by a lieutenant general; 19 regional commands, each headed by major and brigadier generals; 102 provincial commands, each headed by colonels or lieutenant colonels; 536 group and company commands, 19 lieutenancies, and 4,653 basic units or stations at the single-town or -village level.
Organizzacione addestrativa (training branch), a training and drill organization supervised by the Carabinieri training school
Organizzacione di polizia militare (military police), responsible for all military policing
Organizzacione mobile, mobile units that work in conjunction with the...
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