An analysis of the data cited by Milena Gabanelli reveals that it is not the number of policemen that determines safety, but the inability to actually apply penalties. The issue is between the powers of the police, the judiciary and political choices.
Milena Gabanelli wrote in Corriere della Sera a long article to explain what it is propaganda and what reality about crime and safety. In her Dataroom, the former Report presenter reviewed Giorgia Meloni’s statements regarding new agents and the tightening of penalties to contain the increase in crimes. The gist of the speech is more or less the following: even if the government has taken over 37 thousand policemen and carabinieri and others 31 thousand will be hired next year, the police force will continue to be in deficit 30 thousand men. As for the more severe penalties, writes Gabanelli, what is the point of increasing them if one is not able to apply them? In short, according to the journalist the reality of the facts would be different from how it is presented.
The workforce is not enough
Let’s clarify immediately: the data published by Gabanelli are correct. In fact, compared to the past, due to the hiring freeze of previous governments, the police force is still short of tens of thousands of agents. But we are sure that the issue of crime that Italians complain about can be resolved by hiring 10, 20 or 30 thousand men in uniform? Having often dealt with them, I convinced myself not. It’s not the numbers… to be able to change the situation because, if the police cannot do their job, which is to prevent crimes and arrest the guilty, it is evident that criminals will continue to remain at large and therefore stealing, mugging and raping. The real issue we have to deal with is this discouragement of the agentswho not only see the person they have just stopped immediately released, but realize that in a scuffle with a criminal it is they who risk the most. Therefore, either they leave the criminal free to escape or, if they don’t want to look the other way, they ask for a transfer to a quieter office, where they don’t risk ending up in the dock in the place of those who commit crimes. Result: they go to the streets inexperienced agentsyoung novices who drug dealers and thieves often make fun of.
The statistics speak for themselves
That the problem is not staffing is not only said by the police, but also by the police statistics. Last year the Catholic Public Accounts Observatory, a research office directed by Carlo Cottarelli, compared our police forces with those of other European countries, to understand if there was a correlation between security and the number of agents. Well, out of 27 countries that are part of the Union we were placed at seventh placewith forces greater than those of Spain, France and GermanyBelgium, Sweden and so on. Only Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria and Malta had more than Italy, not the big countries. Years ago, Il Sole 24 Ore compared crimes within the EU with the number of agents. Italy, with 452.7 men of law enforcement agencies per 100 thousand inhabitants, had 1,867 thefts per 100 thousand inhabitants, Germany with 297.3 he had some 1,570that is, almost 300 fewer crimes despite the fact that there were 150 fewer police officers controlling the area. The same goes for Spain, with 361 agents and 351 thefts, while in Malta, with 505 men in uniform, the robberies exceeded two thousand. In practice, if you look at the numbers you understand that it is not 100 more policemen who make the difference. Of course, presence helps. But if the criminal is then released, there can be up to a thousand police forces for every 100 thousand inhabitants and things do not change. If a person is arrested but then released, he or she can continue to steal, rob and rape and the officers can at most make one more arrest.
The crux: the application of penalties
The theme, therefore, is the application of penaltieswhich is always difficult, because it is at the discretion of the judiciary. A judge decides whether to let a thief go free, based on the interpretation of the law. If the court does not validate the detention of an illegal immigrant and then that immigrant commits a crime, the solution certainly does not consist in increasing the police force. So it’s all the robes’ fault? No. Even politics has its say. Do you remember Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, from the Draghi government? His is the law to streamline the backlog of justice. In practice, some crimes are only prosecutable party complaint. Even if the officers arrest a thief with his pockets full of stolen goods, the victims must report it, otherwise the criminal is released even if there is proof of the crime. The problem is this: to reduce the backlog of the courts, yes decriminalize crimes and when the prisons burst we move on topardonthat is, the cancellation of the sentence, releasing thieves and drug dealers. The problem is not the police forces, but the discounts on convictions and, before that, i sponge blows on so-called minor crimes. If someone insults or attacks a policeman, instead of being put behind bars he is free to go off and cause more trouble, like what happens to the rowdies who set cities on fire. If you want to address the issue of safety, you must therefore go beyond hiring give power back to the agentsbecause thieves are not arrested by the Salvation Army but by the police.
