Common name Polizia Formed July 11, 1852 Annual budget €7.8 billion (2014) | Abbreviation P.S. Employees 95,000 (2014) | |
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Motto Sub lege libertasFreedom under the law | ||
The Polizia di Stato (State Police or P.S.) is one of the national police forces of Italy.
Contents
- Strength
- Organization
- Headquarters organization
- Interregional organization
- Questure
- Commissariati di Pubblica Sicurezza
- Special operations
- Highway patrol
- Railway Police
- Post and telecommunications
- Immigration and Border Police
- Mobile units
- Anti Terrorism Police
- Training
- Weapons
- Vehicles
- References
It is the main police force for providing police duties and 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, with the Italian State Law 121, it became a civil force, 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 as since it is run directly from the Dipartimento della Pubblica Sicurezza (Department of Public Security), and the keeping of public order (ordine pubblico).
Strength
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 (Vice-Inspectors), 13,677 sovrintendenti (Sergeants), 38,976 assistenti (Assistants), and 29,320 agenti (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.
Organization
The headquarters of the Polizia di Stato are in Rome and its chief is referred to as the Capo della Polizia (Chief of the Police) with official Rank of Capo della Polizia - Direttore Generale della Pubblica Sicurezza (Chief of the Police - Director General of the Public Security). The Chief of the State Police is also the Honorary President of the National Association of State Police (Associazione Nazionale della Polizia di Stato). Three vice chiefs/director generals report to the chief and their main functions are:
The force is organized on a regional and provincial basis. Every major Italian town or city has a main P.d.S. station called a Questura run by a Questore (that is also Autorità Provinciale di Pubblica Sicurezza - Provincial Authority of Public Security). In smaller settlements, a Vice Questore Aggiunto or Commissario Capo (Commissioner Chief) runs the P.d.S. offices. There are also sub-stations for some districts.
Headquarters organization
Main Offices, Divisions and Specialties of the State Police (Uffici, Reparti e Specialità della Polizia di Stato):
Interregional organization
The Interregional Directorates (Direzioni Interregionali) are:
These last ones only since 2007.
Questure
There is a Questura in each of the 103 Italian provincial capitals. It is responsible for all the activities carried out by the Polizia di Stato within the Province.
Commissariati di Pubblica Sicurezza
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. They are equipped with palm computers and mobile phones to answer to citizens' requests in real time.
Special operations
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).
Highway patrol
The Polizia Stradale, or PolStrada for short, is a highway patrol organization. PolStrada police the 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) of motorways (autostrada) in Italy, 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.
Railway Police
The Polizia Ferroviaria, or PolFer for short, ensure the security of travelers 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.
Post and telecommunications
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.
Immigration and Border Police
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 diasppeared, 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.
Mobile units
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.
Anti Terrorism Police
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 SWAT unit.
Training
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 specialties, for instructors, pilots, dog handlers and mounted police officers and the community police school.
Weapons
The standard service pistol of the Polizia di Stato is the Beretta Model 92FS; other sidearms might be made available to the Police personnel according to necessities and assignments. In addition, a Beretta PM-12S sub-machine 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 specialties 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.
Vehicles
The State Police use Italian vehicles ranging from 1994 Fiat Puntos to the Alfa Romeo 159 2,4 JTD, 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 520 bhp (390 kW) 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 November 29, 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.