Law enforcement in the Italian Empire
Law enforcement in the Realms of the Italian Empire is carried out in order to ensure order and security in the Italian Empire; the whole of organs, bodies and agencies involved is used by the political authorities in order to achieve imperial goals of the Fascist State.
On general basis, all of bodies, organs and agencies have the goal to ensure the defence of the institutions and of the territory, to safeguard the physical and moral security, safety and health of populations of the Empire. The police bodies, in relation to this function, protect the integrity of the borders, ensure compliance with laws, regulations, orders of the authorities, maintain respect of religions and customs, protect labour and properties, maintain the security and safety of individuals, provide aid in the public and private accidents directing the work and the means, disengage all other particular tasks entrusted to them by relevant government authorities.
The law enforcement activity is usually carried out according organisational patterns quite different from the Italian model, although still retaining some similarities. The main difference consists of the fact that - with the Montenegrin exception - all police forces are Gendarmerie corps, without the civilian officials and with a reduced role for civilian governors. This is due to a variety of reasons: in Libya the public order conditions are so fragile and poor that the civilian management is unnecessary and generally unfit for a ready response which goes beyond the District boundaries, while in Ethiopia and Somalia the desert or uninhabited areas make unfit a civilian and city-based organisation; in Eritrea the size of the operational area can be easily controlled from the central authority; finally, in Albania there is a well rooted Gendarmerie tradition and it is a recurring joke to say that Carabinieri managed to survive in a land that is almost Italy.
On the other hand, all government in the Empire have a Ministry of Interior and a Directorate-General of Public (Montenegro, Albania and Ethiopia) National (Libya) General (Somalia) Security (specific names could vary) organised like the Italian Directorate General; these "Autonomous" Directorates General are co-ordinated from Rome, although they do retain significant autonomy about local and non-political matters.
Contents
History
The law enforcement in Italian colonies dates back to the Italian occupation of Eritrea at the end of the 19th Century. After a period characterised by the presence of several agencies (Carabinieri and their Zaptié, M.V.S.N., public security bodies), a centralised and unified organisation was implemented, drawing inspiration from an operational plan of then-Major Sabatino Galli. The Colonial Police Corps (Corpo di Polizia Coloniale, C.P.C.), subsequently Italian Africa Police, was established in 1936, drawing criticism mostly from Royal Carabinieri.
The current organisation of law enforcement in the Italian Empire dates back to early 1960s, when the former Colonies were re-designated as "Special Government Regions", in order to disenfranchise them from the Italian direct rule. On one hand, the Italian Africa Police (Italian: Polizia dell'Africa Italiana) was deemed to be too much centralised and in contrast with the self-rule principle to be established; on the other hand, the Albanian Gendarmerie was already organised and well functioning.
In 1964 a Inspectorate General was established in order to pursue the formation of Realm-centred police services, which extensively draw from already existing units; this Inspectorate General was led by the then-Ministry of Colonies, and the Italian Public Security had almost no stake in it. In 1973 the Ministry of Italian Africa established the Division for Police Affairs and Cooperation, while a Commission for Common Security Interests was set up by Head of Government Amintore Fanfani in order to enable the Italian Police to participate. In 1986 the Ministry of Italian Africa was replaced by the Ministry of Imperial Affairs with the task of supporting the Italian Fascist imperial policy and of acting as the Empire executive arm for common affairs and the day-to-day running of the Empire; with the transformation, the Division for Police Affairs was merged with the Commission for Common Security Interests, forming the modern-day Directorate-General for Public Security.
Operational Police Unit
The majority of police officers serving in the Italian Empire-level police operations are deployed as part of an Operational Police Unit (Unità Operativa di Polizia, U.O.P.). An U.O.P. consists of approximately 140 police or gendarmes, trained and equipped to act as a cohesive unit capable of accomplishing policing tasks that individual policemen could not address. Well-trained U.O.P.s can operate in “high-risk” environments.
Operational Police Units have three core duties: public order management, personnel and facilities protection and support to such police operations that require a concerted response but do not respond to military threats.
An Operational Police Unit is a company-sized element which meets the standards of a Level 3 to Level 2 military capability, i.e. an element which could provide extra manpower in efforts planned, led, supplied, and sustained by Italians or by level-1 units for military purposes or even can fight against insurgents as long as the metropolitan Army and/or G.N.R. provide operational assistance. To be eligible to be deployed, Operational Police Units have to undergo pre-deployment training which meets the requirements envisaged and successfully pass the assessment of operational capability.
Individual requirements
Although the common standards requirement does not include a fixed age limit, it is strongly recommended that an U.O.P. member be under fifty years of age at the time of deployment. All members must be physically and mentally fit taking into consideration that they will have to perform crowd management and other physically demanding tasks, and that they will be deployed to a potentially hostile and hazardous environment.
Operational Police Units members must have a minimum of two years of police service prior to the assignment to an Operational Police Unit. The years of police experience may include periods of police service in assignments other than public order or similar assignments but it does not include periods of basic police training.
The U.O.P. Commander and his Officers must have a minimum of five years of police experience. These years of police experience may include periods of police service in assignments other than public order or similar assignments but it does not include periods of basic police training. The U.O.P. Officers must also be familiar to the commands in public order and other tactical situations, to the decision-making process, to the common tactical vocabulary, to stress and fear management; to the use of language assistants. A minimum of 50% of these officers must have proven skills in Italian or in the local language.
Unit requirements
In addition to the individual requirements that the individual members of an U.O.P. must meet, the U.O.P. as an entire unit must meet specific requirements to qualify for service. The unit requirements of operational capacity fall into four categories: organisational standards; police techniques; public order management capacity; capacity to provide protection.
The organisational standards of an Operational Police Unit refer to its composition of personnel and to the weapons and other equipment needed.
The composition and organisation of Operational Police Units may vary due to mission-specific requirements. At a minimum, an U.O.P. has a total strength of
approximately 150 members and consists of an operational component, a command element and a logistics element. The Operational Police Unit must have been formed no less than six months prior to deployment.
- Operational component: The operational component comprises a minimum capacity of 120 police officers and consists of three to four platoons. Specialised capacities do not count towards the minimum capacity of 120. The sub-units are made up of Squads, consisting of a minimum of ten operational members per Squad. The Squads make up the smallest deployable units and cannot be broken down further.
- Command element: The command element of an U.O.P. includes the Unit's Officers and sufficient capacity in information analysis, logistics, operations, communications and personnel.
- Logistics element: The logistics element may vary in size but must have sufficient capacity in terms of trained craftsmen and personnel to provide all required services.
The U.O.P. must be able to carry out police interventions at least at Platoon level, as well as be able to perform public order management techniques and personnel and facility protection (in collaboration with the military).
Directorate-General for Public Security
The Directorate-General for Public Security (Italian: Direzione Generale per la Pubblica Sicurezza; Maltese: Direttorat Ġenerali għas-Sigurtà Pubblika; Corsican: Capu Diriggenti Generale di a Securità Public; Albanian: Drejtoria e Përgjithshme për Siguri Publike; Montenegrin: Generalna Direkcija za Javnu Sigurnost; Arabic: المديرية العامة للأمن العام al-mudiriat al-eammat lil'amn al-eamm; Ahmaric: የሕዝብ ደህንነት ለ ዳይሬክቶሬት ጄኔራል yeḥizibi dehinineti le dayirēkitorēti jēnērali) is a Directorate-General within the Ministry for Imperial Affairs, in charge for managing that aim at ensuring a stable, lawful and secure environment.
In the Italian Empire, the Directorate-General is aimed to coordinate fight to terrorism and organised crime, to oversee police cooperation and to prepare to swiftly respond to emerging crises; the Directorate-General thus provides direct law enforcement activities at only the Empire level. At the Imperial level, the Directorate-General of Public Security acts as both police and as law enforcement agency, i.e. authorized to enforce various laws at the Imperial level, but it is limited to directly investigating only matters that are explicitly under the responsibility of the federal government.
If a non-Imperial crime is committed in a State of the Italian Empire, and the fugitive does not flee the State, the Directorate-General of Public Security of the Italian Empire has no direct responsibility, although it often supports the local police. However, once the fugitive crosses a State border, he or she violates the law of interstate flight and is subject to direct chase of the Directorate-General of Public Security of the Italian Empire. The Empire-level Directorate-General relies on the M.V.S.N. and the G.N.R. and their "colonial" branches in order to have a centrally-managed armed force in support to internal security of the Italian Empire and of the individual Realms of the Empire, in addition to mobile units of the individual Gendarmeries.
Outside the crimes against the Empire, the Directorate has no executive powers per se, and its officials are not entitled to conduct investigations in the Imperial states or to directly arrest suspects, except in substitution (when the Realm is unable or unwilling) or with a specific authorisation. The Directorate, in providing support through information exchange, intelligence analysis, expertise, and training, can contribute to the executive measures carried out by the relevant national authorities.
Three different levels of co-operation are in force:
- Training and technical co-operation;
- Strategic co-operation aimed at exchanging general trends in organised crime and how to fight it and the exchange of threat assessments;
- Exchange of personal data and requires the fulfilment of Europol's standards in the field of data protection and security
Organization
The Director-General of the Directorate is always the same official who is the Director-General of the Public Security of the Italian Interior Ministry; he is assisted by an Higher Council (formed by the chiefs of police of the individual Realms) and by a Deputy Director (usually the chief of police of an Realm, chosen on rotational basis). Officials leading divisions and sections are senior officers and officials of the various police forces and interior ministries. The Directorate-General is subdivided into four Divisions: General Affairs, Security, Migration and Imperial Borders. Each Division is in turn divided into Sections.
- Division I - Strategy and General Affairs; the Division is in charge for all general coordination tasks. It is subdivided into seven Offices:
- Office I - Inter-institutional Relations;
- Office II - Intra-agency Relations;
- Office III - Legal Affairs;
- Office IV - International Coordination;
- Office V - Innovation;
- Office VI - Research Centre;
- Office VII - Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction;
- Division II - Security and Strategic Police; the division is in charge of all political police duties common to two or more States of the Italian Empire. It is an analysis organ and it subdivided into eight Offices:
- Office I - Police Cooperation and information exchange;
- Office II - Terrorism and radicalisation;
- Office III - Organised crime and Drugs Policy (Royal Guard of Finance);
- Office IV - Money laundering (Royal Guard of Finance);
- Office V - Cybercrime;
- Office VI - Public order and preventive surveillance
- Office VII - Political police records;
- Office VIII - Communication and transport routes police;
- Division III - Imperial Borders and Internal and Authorised Migration;
- Office I - Document security;
- Office II - Borders and Security;
- Office III - Internal travels;
- Office IV - Expulsion Policy;
- Office V - Security analysis;
- Office VI - Common Border Management;
- Office VII - Territorial Waters and Coast Guard.
Office II - Terrorism and radicalisation
Office II - Terrorism and radicalisation is the expertise hub working to provide support on terrorism-related issues of Division II - Security and Political Police. The Office’s principal task is to provide operational support to Constituent States in investigations following terrorist attacks. It cross-checks live operational data against the data the Directorate-General already has (with the critical role of the Italian police and security apparatus), quickly bringing financial leads to light, and analyses all available investigative details to assist in compiling a structured picture of the terrorist network.
The Office focuses on providing operational support upon a request from a Member State or upon order from the Director-General of Public Security for investigations, tackling foreign fighters and sharing (through Office I - Police Cooperation and information exchange) intelligence and expertise on terrorism, as wll as on online terrorist propaganda and subversive extremism.
In the event of a major terrorist event, the Office may contribute to a coordinated response. Different teams are available for this purpose, often combined with additional counter terrorism experts temporarily seconded from Member States, depending on the nature of the event.
Division III - Imperial Borders and Internal and Authorized Migration
Division III - Imperial Borders and Internal and Authorised Migration is a subdivision of the Directorate-General of Public Security of the Italian Empire headquartered in Rome, Italy, tasked with border control of the Italian Empire, handling and directing all bodies tasked with border security and coast guards duties of the States constituting the Italian Empire. The Division is also responsible for directing border control efforts. The Division, while not providing ordinary field activities, may require action by member states and may use its own resources; furthermore, the activity of coast guards or of border security forces is carried out on a mandate of the Directorate-General (a matter actually handled by Division III). The Division therefore brings together the strategic guidance, with day-to-day management of external border regions remaining the responsibility of member states.
When deficiencies in the functioning of the border management system of a member state are identified, the Division may require that States to take timely corrective action. In urgent situations that put the Italian Empire at risk or when deficiencies have not been remedied, the Division steps in to ensure that action is taken on the ground. States of the Italian Empire may request joint operations, rapid border interventions, and deployment of Imperial States teams to support their own authorities when confronted by an extraordinary immigration influx. In such a case, the Director-General of Public Security of the Italian Empire has the authority to order the Division-directed resources to intervene and deploy under its command operational border forces to ensure that action is taken on the ground.
It is to note that, in several Realms of the Italian Empire, the border protection activity is carried out also by local Guards. In this case, the Directorate-General has the power to mobilise such forces.
| Realm of the Italian Empire | Port police | Border force | Coast guard | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | Police | Police | - | The Italian Coast Guard is in charge with a dedicated command |
| Eritrea | Police | Police | Guard | |
| Ethiopia | - | Guard | - | Ethiopia is a landlocked Realm |
| Libya | Police | Police | - | The Italian Coast Guard is in charge with a dedicated command |
| Montenegro | Police | Police | Guard | |
| Somalia | Police | Guard | Guard |
Inspectorates-General
There are three Inspectorates-General of Public Security in the Italian Empire: Balkans (Dodecanese, Montenegro and Albania); Libya; Italian East Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea). These Inspectorates-General are bodies tasked with ensuring actual cooperation between bordering Realms and are staffed by Italian and local personnel. The Libya Inspectorate coincides with the General Command of the Libyan Gendarmerie.
The Inspectorates-General coordinate and oversee the performance of all the organs and services of the various police forces and the activities of their personnel; the Inspectorates-General also study and propose to the Heads of State provisions for harmonising the actions of the police and their deployment and use. The Inspectors-General receive directives from the Minister of Imperial Affairs and from the Director General of Public Security.
Inspectorate-General for Gendarmerie Forces
The Inspectorate-General for Gendarmerie Forces (Ispettorato Generale per le Forze di Gendarmeria) is a joint organ of the Directorate-General of Public Security of the Italian Empire and of the Royal Carabinieri, whose purpose is to coordinate and conduct, in accordance with current legislation, control actions over the Gendarmerie forces of the Italian Empire.
Inspectorate-General's assignments are the establishment of principles, guidelines and norms for the effective control and coordination of the Gendarmerie forces by the Royal Carabinieri General Command, a Control of the organisation and legislation, personnel and all military material of the Gendarmerie forces, such as armament, ammunition, motomechanisation material, communications material, NBCR material and campaign engineering material. Also included are aircraft and vessels that may be part of the material used by the Gendarmerie forces. The Inspectorate has the task to intervene coordinating and controlling compliance with the provisions of the relevant Imperial and State legislation and conducting regular inspections to verify for control purposes.
The Inspectorate-General also provide collaboration in studies aimed at the rights, duties, justice and guarantees of the Gendarmerie forces, and the establishment of the general conditions of convocation and mobilisation; furthermore, the Inspectorate appraises the mobilisation frameworks for the Gendarmerie forces of each Realm of the Empire.
Organisation
The Inspectorate-General is led by a Royal Carabinieri General of Army Corps, Inspector-General, assisted by a General Staff and by three Deputy Inspectors-General: a C.P.R. Major General, a Director General of P.S., and an Army Major General.
The Inspectorate also has a 12-members Consultative Commission, consisting of Colonels of each gendarmerie force, of a Chief Superintendent of the Montenegrin Police Administration, of an Albanian Fascist Militia Colonel, of a National Royal Guard Colonel, of a Royal Carabinieri Colonel, of a R.G.d.F. Colonel, of a C.P.R. Colonel, of an Army Colonel and of a P.S. Police Inspector.
Subordinated to the Inspector-General, there are 18 Inspectors (all senior Carabinieri officers normally assigned to inspection duties) and five Offices:
- Office I - Personnel;
- Office II - Legislation;
- Office III - Military and dual-use material;
- Office IV - Mobile units;
- Office V - Mobilisation.
Office IV - Mobile units
At the Italian Empire-level, affairs related to the Operational Police Unts (see above) are dealt with by the Joint Mobile Units Command (Comando Interforze delle Unità Mobili). The Commander is directly subordinate to the General-Inspector of the Militarised Police Corps and normally is a CC.RR. general officer.
Albanian Gendarmerie
The Albanian Gendarmerie (Albanian: Xhandarmëria Shqiptare; Italian: Gendarmeria Albanese) is the Gendarmerie force of the Kingdom of Albania. Being an Albanian militarised police force, it has several entities which has to respond to: for police and security duties the Gendarmerie depends on the Albanian Ministry of Interior; for co-ordination purposes, it depends on the Directorate General of Public Security in Rome; finally, for military purposes it reports to the Army Higher Command Balkans head-quartered in Tirana. It is to be noted that the Albanian Gendarmerie is mainly a preventive force of public security, but it has also detective/repressive duties as a judicial police corps.
Montenegrin Police
Law enforcement in Montenegro is primarily the responsibility of the Police Administration (Uprava Policije). This is a civilian law enforcement agency (the official status a civilian police force, with special statute, militarily organised) which constitutes the Directorate-General of Public Security (Generalni Direktorat za Javnu Bezbednost),in turn part of the Ministry of Interior Affairs. The police force, with 5,684 police officers, is legally controlled by the country's Law on Police, which make the police report also to the Italian Directorate-General of Public Security through the Directorate-General for Public Security of the Ministry of Imperial Affairs.
Libyan Gendarmerie
The Libyan Royal Gendarmerie (Arabic: الدرك الملكي الليبي; al-Darak al-Malakiu al-‘Lybyia, Italian: Gendarmeria Repubblicana Libica) is the police force of Italian Libya. The public security activity is directed by the Chief of State of the United Kingdom of Libya, who is also the Central Authority of Public Security. In this capacity, the Chief of State exercises similar roles to those exercised by the Minister of Interior. On the other hand, Provincial Governors and Provincial Battalions Commanders, as well as the sanctioned tribal chiefs, are Local Authorities of Public Security. The sanctioned tribal chiefs are Authorities of Public Security only against those subjected to their tribal authority.
Ethiopian Gendarmerie
The Ethiopian security is a complex matter due to the social, ethnic and religious complexity of the population of the Ethiopian Empire. The Ministry of Interior is in charge of handling security and policing affairs through the Directorate General of Public Security and through the Ethiopian Gendarmerie Corps (Ahmaric: ሐበሻ ፖሊስ, Häbäsha Polis, literally meaning "Ethiopian Police"; Italian: Corpo della Gendarmeria Etiope). Each of the 8 ethnically-based Provinces and the three Autonomous Cities consists of a Provincial Directorate for the Public Security and of a Provincial Gendarmerie Command (headed by a Major General). Provincial Gendarmerie Commanders in each of the 11 provinces work in conjunction with the Provincial Governors, but for the prevailing part Addis Abeba directs administration. The civilian Directorates of Public Security (both central and provincial) deal with administrative-political aspects of the police activities in support of the Ethiopian Government and of the Provincial Governors, while Gendarmerie commanders are the technical-operative authorities.
Somali Gendarmerie
The Gendarmerie of Somalia (Somali: Gandarmaariiga ee Soomaaliya; Arabic: الدرك من الصومال, al Ddarak min al Ssumal; Italian: Gendarmeria della Somalia) is the national gendarmerie force and the law enforcement agency of the Autonomous Social Republic of Somalia. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting (including the enforcement of the Xeer), traffic control, maintaining public security, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Interior, Directorate-General of Public Security. The Gendarmerie serves as one of the principal organs of the Somali Government. While organised at a national level, each arm reports to a Regional police authority, which in turn divides its force by local Police Divisions, headquartered at local police stations. In an emergency, the Gendarmerie can be reached by dialling 888 from any telephone in Somalia.
Eritrean Gendarmerie
The Eritrean Gendarmerie (Italian: Gendarmeria Eritrea) is the militarised police force of Eritrea. Its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Interior of the Principality of Eritrea. The Eritrean Gendarmerie operates throughout Eritrea. There are no local or "municipal" police departments in Eritrea. The General Command of the Eritrean Gendarmerie is located in Asmara. In an emergency, the Eritrean Gendarmerie can be reached by dialling 112 from any telephone in Eritrea. Eritrean Gendarmes carry the title of Zaptié, after the indigenous units attached to the Italian Royal Carabinieri recruited for the first time in 1888.
A military atmosphere prevails - dress codes, behaviour standards, and rank differentiation are strictly adhered to. Esprit de corps is inculcated with regular ceremonies and institutionalisation of rituals such as applauding personnel dispatched to or returning from assignments and formally welcoming senior officers to the mess hall at all meals.
