Local Police (Kingdom of Italy)
The Ministry of the Interior provides general guidance, through the Administrative Police Division, as well as inter-provincial training centres for local police officers for their special needs, directed by a senior Public Security official and staffed with C.P.R. officers.
Local Police service does not count as security service. Therefore, Local Police agents have all served for the levy and, in case of war, Local Police personnel may be called back into service as M.V.S.N. Legionnaires and pressed into the State Armed Forces. Usually, Local Police agents are grouped into "St. Sebastian Units"; if a decoration is awarded to a St. Sebastian Unit, usually all Local Police commands which have personnel in that unit are entitled to collectively carry the decoration.
Government Commissioner, Rector of the Province and Podestà, in the exercise of their functions, gives directions and supervise the functioning of the local police service. The personnel of the local police, while since 1984 under disciplinary overall control of the M.V.S.N. Provincial Legion, depends on the competent Authorities of Public Security, through the Commander of the local police. Local Police Agents are Auxiliary Agents of Public Security, and in this capacity they are required to carry out the orders given by superiors and the responsible authorities for the individual operating segments, within the limits of their legal status and laws.
Contents
Functions
Local Police functions mainly include the protection of citizens from disasters, illegal trade fight, health personnel support, traffic police service (on secondary roads or in inhabited settlements), traffic regulation and parking, as well as local regulations enforcement.
Without prejudice to the general jurisdiction of the Public Security Administration, and within the limits of their powers, the municipal police officers carry out also duties required for crime prevention, public order, security, and public safety. During service, operations outside the territorial jurisdiction on individual initiative are permitted only in case of necessity due to the flagrant offence committed inside the jurisdiction, while planned external missions for rescue in case of calamities and disasters, or to provide support to other Corps to strengthen services on special occasions, are permitted upon an order/authorization by the Prefect.
The judicial investigative authority (i.e. Prosecutor or Examining Judge) may make use of personnel of the local police. In this case, the local police personnel depends operationally on the competent judicial authority; personnel assigned to Prosecution are given the qualification of Agent of Judicial Police or, if the situation requires so, even the qualification of Officer of Judicial Police, although a specific course must be undertaken.
Functions related to local police are:
- Auxiliary public security functions;
- Local administrative police functions;
- Supervisory functions on compliance with local regulations, ordinances and administrative provisions;
- Local tax police functions;
- Functions pertaining to the management of order, supervisory and escort services, necessary for carrying out the institutional activities of the municipality or province;
- Emergency services in the event of public disasters and private accidents;
- Supervision functions on the integrity and conservation of public assets;
- Building police functions aimed at monitoring compliance with urban planning and building regulations in order to guarantee the protection of urban and rural quality;
- Reporting tasks to the competent authorities, of malfunctions and shortcomings of public services;
- Functions of information, assessment, monitoring and detection of data related to institutional functions or in any case required by competent authorities;
- Functions to support the control activities of the supervisory bodies in the field of work and safety in the workplace;
- Functions related to the provision of services as well as collaborations in civil protection operations for the municipalities and provinces;
- Consumer protection functions.
Security functions of the Local Police
In order to thwart spontaneous, self-developed and emulatory terrorism or serious disloyalty (mainly Islamic terorrism originating from Islamic immigrants and nationals of the realms of the Italian Empire), the Local Police corps (and Podestà) have a significant role. The unpredictability of the spontaneist and/or little organized terrorist threat requires that prevention complements the investigative activity, with the maximum integration on the local level of active and passive security tools.
The scheme of "collaborative prevention" implies a full involvement of Podestà, of local Party leaders and of the municipal police corps (mainly of the major cities, but also in other Municipalities with a significant presence of Islamic immigrants or known areas of dissension), headed by Prefects and Quaestors. The aim is to make effective and widespread forms of active and passive surveillance and defence of urban areas in front of the lone-wolf threat, exploiting the community policing carried out by the Local Police Corps (assisted by the local branches of Police and Carabinieri). In relation to the terrorist threat, the municipalities have a responsibility to help to plan and to organize the prevention and surveillance activities, under the direction of the relevant Provincial Authority of Public Security, and acting also in parallel to the relevant Political Office of Investigation (usually without significant presence outside cities and major towns).
The Local Police has therefore both responsibility and autonomy to propose and, within the limits of its possibilities, the organization of the security and surveillance services, albeit under the guidance of the Provincial Authority of Public Security.
Broad organization
The local police function is exercised by the Administrative Regions, the Provinces and the Municipalities. The Administrative Regions play, in their respective territorial areas and through their bodies, offices and services, local police activities. Each local police corps carry out their activity within the territory of the region they belong to, without any further spatial or temporal limitation in the fulfillment of their institutional duties.
Under the auspices and directives of Division V - Administrative and Social Police, Administrative Regions also organize and coordinate the police activities and tasks carried out by the Provinces and Municipalities.
The Regional Local Police Corps Command is established In each regional capital; the Provincial Local Police Command is established in each Province and the Local Police Command is established at every municipality or grouping of several Municipalities.
Municipalities and provinces with their regulations define the organization of the local police, in accordance with the parameters established by the Minister of Interior and by the relevant Regional Command. The regulations are communicated for approval to the Ministry through the local Prefect. The individual Local Police (Provincial and Municipal) Commanders depend, for the operational and organizational aspects of the police activities, on the relevant Regional Ccommand of the local police.
The Government Commissioner, in his capacity of central government's representative, lays down general rules for the establishment of the Regional Local Police, determines the characteristics of the uniforms and rank insignia and issues regulations about device characteristics and operational tools supplied. The provincial Prefect lays down general rules for the establishment of the Local Police within his Province, taking into account the size of the municipalities and of the Province and promotes appropriate forms of association among subordinated municipalities. The establishing regulation sets the numerical quantity, according to functionality criteria, and the type of organization of the Corps, taking into account the characteristics of the settlement: the organization of the Corps is based on the principle of decentralization to districts.
Weekly Security Report
A specific Commander's duty is to send a Weekly Security Report to a variety of receivers; the Reports describes the security situation of the area under the Corps jurisdiction, with emphasis about (lesser) anti-fascist activities, immigrants and foreigners, public places such as bars, pubs, taverns and other matters which may be worth of notice. The Report is sent to the relevant government authority: Podestà and Rector turn send the report to the Prefect, while the Government Commissioner is the prefectorial terminal. The Report is also sent to the highest Public Security authority within the area (who in turn sends it to the Quaestor); the Regional Commander sends the Report to the Director of the Regional Office of Public Security.
Personnel
The personnel of each Regional Corps is normally divided into:
- Directors;
- Officials;
- Subofficers and Agents.
The Local Police Commander is responsible to the Podestà (or to the Rector) and to the Prefect for the training, the discipline and the technical and operational use of the Corps; whatever rank he holds, he is a Substitute Officer of Public Security (Sostituto Ufficiale di Pubblica Sicurezza, S.U.P.S.).
Academic degrees required for access applications are those corresponding to licenses applied for Public Security; however, the Prefect can authorize different (usually lower) requirements.
Local Regional Police
Each Administrative Region establishes a Regional Local Police Corps. The Regional Corps is headed by an Inspector General, assisted by two senior officials with the rank of First Director. The Commander of the Regional Corps is appointed by the Government Commissioner, after hearing the Chief of Police; the related task has the term of the regional legislature. The Commander of the Regional Corps in turn appoints the municipal and provincial commanders, after hearing the Rector of the Province and the Podestà and the relevant Director of the Regional Office of Public Security.
The administrative police matters of regional competence are:
- Urban and rural police;
- Traffic police
- Trade police;
- Health police;
- Hydraulic, lake and river police;
- Phytopathological police;
- Agricultural and rural police concerning assets belonging to the regional assets;
- Fish, hunting, zoofila and veterinary police;
- Local tax police.
Both the Local Regional Police Corps and the Local Regional Police Command (i.e. that body which is tasked with carrying out regional-level administrative police services) are closely supervised by the Regional Office of Public Security.
Inspectorate General
The Inspectorate General is the command, coordination and direction body of each Regional Local Police Corps. The Inspectorate General deals with security, understood not in the sense of urban security, that is, the public good that pertains to the liveability and decorum of cities, the prevention of crime, in particular of a predatory nature, the promotion of the culture of respect for the legality and the affirmation of higher levels of social cohesion and civil coexistence, to which the Regions collaborate with the State.
The Inspectorate General also deals with the monitoring of the migration phenomenon, supporting the activities of Division V - Administrative and Social Police. The migration and foreigners' stay in Italy is checked by the Public Security apparatus, but Local Police organizations send their own data in order to integrate the picture. However, the core of the activities carried out by the Inspectorate General pertains the local police: it directly ensures the activities related to the Regional level (throught commands and services directly dependent on the Inspectorate General) and directs and coordinates activities pertaining to Provincial and Municipal levels.
Regional Road Safety Governance and Monitoring Institute
The Regional Road Safety Governance and Monitoring Institute (Istituto Regionale per la Gestione e lo Studio della Sicurezza Stradale, I.R.Ge.Stu.Si.Stra.) is a joint organization between the relevant Motorways Operations Centre, the relevant Local Regional Police, the relevant Legion Detachment of the Highway Militia, the Ministry of Posts, Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Infrastructures and Public Works. Each Institute plays mainly a role of coordination, direction, support and verification of the planned activities in the field of road safety. The main activities of the Regional Monitoring Institute are to verify and direct the implementation of the National Road Safety Plan at local level by Administrative Regions, Provinces and Municipalities, to adopt standards defined by the Government in order to ensure full data consistency and analysis and evaluation procedures throughout the regional territory, ensuring the development of a regional framework on the state of road safety, the implementation of the Plan, and the results achieved in terms of reducing road accident victims, identifying interventions which can be good practices to be proposed to the Government, to carry out study and research activities to deepen the knowledge on risk factors and on the causes that determine road accidents and identify appropriate measures and interventions to counteract risk factors, to provide support for Local Authorities for improving road safety and direct the activity of provincial and municipal Road Safety Monitoring Centres.
School for Local Police Officials and Subofficers
Each Regional Local Police Corps must have an its own Regional School for Local Police Officials and Subofficers (Scuola Regionale per Funzionari e Sottufficiali di Polizia Locale), while troops may be trained by each individual command or by a centralized school. The School of the Local Police is a highly specialized training structure on urban security issues and on the tasks of the local police forces.
Each School for Local Police Officials and Subofficers is intended to ensure, on the regional territory, the presence of a training structure on urban security issues and the tasks of the local police. The School aims to create a professional qualification system and update the Officers and Subofficers in accordance with the needs of local authorities and the regional coordination function.
Local Provincial Police
Provinces always establish their own Local Provincial Police Command (Comando Provinciale di Polizia Locale), part of the relevant Regional Police Corps. Every Local Command or service has as its name "Local Police"; this name is supplemented by the specification "Command of" with the indication of the local authority of competence.
According to the size of the Local Provincial Police Command, it may be led by a Commissioner of Local Police to a Director of Local Police (equivalent to Quaestor, 2nd Class, rank of P.S.). The relevant Questura closely supervises the Local Provincial Police Command.
Local Municipal Police
Municipalities whose municipal police service is carried out by at least ten agents may establish the Municipal Police Command (Comando di Polizia Municipale), regulating the legal status of personnel with specific regulations. According to the size of the Local Municipal Police Command, it may be led by a Marshal of Local Police to a First Director of Local Police (equivalent to Quaestor, 2nd Class of P.S.). All Local Municipal Police Commands are directly supervised by the relevant Commissariat or by the Questura in the provincial capital.
Small municipalities
The functions of the local municipal police are compulsorily carried out in a consortium on the part of municipalities with a population of up to 3,000 inhabitants and the minimal strength of the Local Consortium Command is of 10 officers; if the Corps size is less than 20 Agents, the Commander may be a Marshal of Local Police. The Prefect, in consultation with the municipalities concerned, draws up the organizational plans of the local police consortia.
Medium municipalities
In municipalities above 50,000 inhabitants, the relevant Municipal Police Corps may establish a specialized Urban Security Group (Gruppo Sicurezza Urbana, G.S.U.). The Group is specially trained to fight against petty crimes and general insecurity conducting frequent patrols (on foot and by motorcycle/car) and manning surveillance points. The presence enables them to collect various information elements, and therefore police officers of these units are carefully screened and specifically trained in C.P.R. facilities.
Large municipalities
In municipalities above 400,000 inhabitants, the Local Municipal Police Command is usually structured along five main Divisions:
- General Affairs Division;
- Administrative Police Division;
- Commercial Regulations Division;
- Licenses and Appearance Division;
- Mobile Operations Division.
Large cities usually have all offices and subdivisions; smaller municipalities often follow the general blueprint of larger ones, reducing or merging offices according the need.
General Affairs Division
The General Affairs Division deals with organising, supporting and supervising the Local Municipal Police Command. Generally, it includes four Offices:
- Administration Office: the Administration Office formulates annual work plan and meeting documentation, examines and executes various files and documents issued by the Podestà, controls the financial and assets management and deals with human resources affairs;
- Supervision Office: the Supervision Office supervises officials, regulates conduct of public servants, carries out internal investigations.
- Integrated Management Office: The Integrated Management Office is in charge of planning and organising urban administrative police operations, as well as of liaising with the Administration of Public Security.
- Legal Office: the Legal Office takes charge in drawing rules and regulation related to urban management, assists the Podestà with legal framework and planning.
Administrative Police Division
The Administrative Police Division is in charge of main administrative and by-laws enforcement activities. Usually, the Administrative Police Division contains only investigation subdivisions. Almost all large cities have at least five Offices:
- Scientific investigations office;
- False documents office;
- Counterfeit vehicles Office;
- Taxi service control office;
- Administrative Police office: the Administrative Police Office deals with security and urban administrative affairs. The Office also carries out municipal enforcement, issues fines and penalties and enforces local regulations and bylaws.
- Anti-Fraud Office: the Anti-Fraud Office is a mixed office between Public Security (Royal Police) and Local Police to strike a crime involving the weakest people in the city community.
- Narcotics office: the Narcotics office consists of agents who work mainly in civilian clothes in the areas at risk in the city and who carry out investigations and assignments aimed at identifying drug dealers and seizing drugs. It primarily works under the close guidance of the relevant Questura.
- Public Transport Office: the Public Transport Office collaborates with the staff of the reevant municipal company in carrying out multiple activities, such as the presence on public transport to prevent disturbing or dangerous behavior, bag snatching and pickpocketing and the supervision of stops. The activities are carried out in uniform and in plain clothes.
- Environmental Office: the Environmental Office carries out, in cooperation with the Royal Carabinieri and the M.V.S.N., environmental controls to safeguard the territory from illegal landfills, spills on land and aquifers, pollution in general.
- Stolen Bicycle Office: The Stolen Bicycle Office recovers and returns stolen bikes to legitimate owners, starting from local surveys and citizen reports.
Commercial Regulations Division
The Commercial Police Division is in charge of controlling all the commercial activities in the fixed or itinerant offices carried out in a public or private area. The controls examine the regularity of every aspect, from the licenses and the correct management of the products. In all Local Municipal Police Commands, no matter how limited, the Commercial Regulations Division is deeply linked to the Commercial Consultive Commission, the municipal corporatist trade organ.
- Abusive Trade Office: the Abusive Trade Office deals with the sale of all those products that do not comply with the regulations and guarantee the safety of the consumer.
- Commercial Licenses Office: the Commercial Licenses Office deals with the regularity of Licenses not controlled by the Public Security.
- Consumer Protection Office: the Consumer Protection Office is expressly dedicated to the prevention and repression of activities that harm the health of consumers.
The Division is also divided into Offices specialized in the various types of commercial activities.
Licenses and Appearance Division
The Licenses and Appearance Division is in charge to issue permits and licenses not directly related to trade. Usually, a large city Local Municipal Police Command includes several Offices:
- Work Safety Office;
- Buildings Office;
- Public Decor and Appearance Office: the Public Decor and Appearance Office supervises city appearance and decor, including street building, street scene appearance, street signs, booths, stalls, motor vehicle carparks, etc. and manages environment roadways.
- Urban Decor Office: the Urban Decor Office controls and protects the urban heritage. The Office mainly deals with the phenomenon of graffiti and the vandalism of writers, in particular on trains and subways.
- Advertisement Office: the Advertisement Office sets policy, regulation and standards for outdoor advertisement, neon light and lamp boxes.
Mobile Operations Division
The Mobile Operations Division is dedicated to all the cases that foresee a timely intervention in the city territory, such as emergency services and road accidents, serious violations of the Road Code and in general the protection and control of the territory. The Division, usually directly subordinate to the Commander, includes:
- Motorcycles Group, used for marches, demonstrations, escort services and institutional visits;
- Urban Security Group: The Urban Security Group is a specially trained Local Police unit tasked to fight against petty crimes and general insecurity conducting frequent patrols (on foot and by motorcycle/car) and manning surveillance points. The presence enables them to collect various information elements, and therefore police officers of these units are carefully screened and specifically trained in C.P.R. facilities.
- Canine Group;
- Divers Group;
- Arrests Office;
- Operations Centre: in large cities, the Operations Centre has the task of coordinating all external personnel for emergency services, road accidents, coordination of large and small events, removing vehicles and citizens' requests and managing traffic regulation. Sometimes (Naples and Palermo) the Operations Centre is framed within the Administrative Police division.
Neighborhood Commands
The large cities subdivide their territory into Neighborhood Commands, which are entrusted with territorial control. The Neighborhood Commands deal with road conditions, school services, road accidents, prevention and verification of road traffic offenses and municipal regulations and foot patrols. In the offices of the Neighborhood Commands it is possible to fulfill all the procedures managed by the Local Municipal Police.
Uniforms and insignia
The characteristics of the uniforms are established by decree of the Minister of the Interior, and they are the same and binding for the whole national territory; uniforms are integrated by the characteristic marks of the regional (a cap insignia) and municipal administrations (a breast insignia). In general, ordinary uniforms have close resemblance to the uniforms of Public Security, but are clearly distinct. On the other hand, operational uniforms are more focused (especially during the cold season) in the suitability for long foot patrols. The activities of the local police are always carried out in uniform and may be carried out in plain clothes only with relevant Commander's written permission, in order to avoid abuses.
Rank insignia and organizational patterns are modelled on Public Security ones; usually, the Corps Commander uses a red background under the rank stars in order to distinguish himself from other officers who may hold the same rank. Rank titles, on the other hand, are significantly different from the P.S. equivalents, especially for Officials.
| Local Police senior officials ranks and insignia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Police rank | Vice-Direttore di P.L. | Direttore di P.L. | Primo Direttore di P.L. | Ispettore Generale | ||||
| English translation | Deputy Director of Local Police | Director of Local Police | First Director of Local Police | Inspector General | ||||
| Public Security rank | Chief Commissioner of P.S. | Deputy Quaestor | Police Inspector Police Inspector Quaestor, 2nd Class |
Inspector General Quaestor, 1st Class | ||||
| Shoulder board insignia |  Non-command/staff position |
 Non-command/staff position |
 Commander of Municipal Command |
 Commander of Provincial Command |
 Non-command/staff position |
 Commander of Municipal Command |
 Commander of Provincial Command |
 Commander of Regional Corps |
| Local Police junior officials ranks and insignia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Police rank | Vice-Istruttore di P.L. | Istruttore di P.L. | Istruttore Capo di P.L | |||
| English translation | Deputy Instructor of Local Police | Instructor of Local Police | Chief Instructor of Local Police | |||
| Public Security rank | Additional Deputy Commissioner of Public Security | Deputy Commissioner of P.S. | Commissioner of P.S. | |||
| Shoulder board insignia |  Staff position |
 Commander of Municipal Command |
 Staff position |
 Staff position |
 Commander of Municipal Command |
 Commander of Provincial Command |
| Public Security military Subofficers ranks and insignia | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Police rank | Maresciallo di P.L. | Maresciallo Capo di P.L. | Maresciallo Maggiore di P.L. |
| English translation | Marshal of Public Security | Chief Marshal of Public Security | Marshal Major of Public Security |
| Royal Police Corps rank | Maresciallo di P.S. | Maresciallo Capo di P.S. | Maresciallo Maggiore di P.S. |
| Shoulder board insignia |  |
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|
| Public Security military Enlisted ranks and insignia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Police rank | Agente | Agente Scelto | Appuntato | Appuntato Capo | Vicebrigadiere | Brigadiere |
| English translation | Agent | Agent First Class | Appointee | Chief Appointee | Deputy Sergeant | Sergeant |
| Royal Police Corps rank | Agente | Agente Scelto | Appuntato | Appuntato Capo | Vicebrigadiere | Brigadiere |
| Sleeve insignia | No insignia |  |
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| Shoulder board insignia | 
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