The path of Provincial Committee for Public Order and Securityin a traveling session, was enriched this morning with a new stop in the Council Room of Palazzo delle Decime in Francavilla in Sinni (PZ)where is the Prefect of Potenza Michele Campanaro, supported by the Police Commissioner and the provincial Commanders of the Carabinieri and the Financial Police, met the Mayors of the Municipalities of Francavilla in Sinni, Castronuovo di Sant’Andrea, Cersosimo, Chiaromonte, Fardella, Roccanova, San Costantino Albanese, San Paolo Albanese, San Severino Lucano, Sant’Arcangelo, Teana, Terranova di Pollino, Viggianello, the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Municipality of Noepoli and the Prefectural Commissioner of the Municipality of Senise.
The Mayors of the “Senise” area – a southern extension of the province – accepted the Prefect’s invitation to the need to give concrete responses to the diversified security requests coming from local communities, in an extremely “pulverized” territorial area, with a overall population of just over 26,000 inhabitants over an area of over 900 square kilometres.
The Government Representative illustrated, as usual, the trend in crime which, at the end of 2023, marks a decrease of 27.80% for the 15 Area Municipalities compared to 2022 in the overall total of crimes reportedfocusing attention on the main specific risk factors, fueled by marginalization and social exclusion which directly impact liveability and safety in the small towns of the “Senise” area, creating pockets of hardship, especially among young people.
“The evolution of the concept of ‘urban security’ has brought into the spotlight all the aspects that undermine peaceful civil life: among these, certainly social hardship and marginalization, which risk having dramatic consequences in this territorial area, with the increase in the phenomenon of consumption and dealing of narcotic substances” the words of the Prefect Campanaro who recalled the results of the investigation activity called “Seventeen Gang”, conducted last year by the Operational and Radiomobile Unit of the Senise Carabinieri Company against a criminal syndicate dedicated to drug dealingeven towards minors.
The Government Representative then reviewed the checklist of measures envisaged by the various “Safety Decrees” followed one another over time, suggesting to the Mayors the three most appropriate to the territorial specificities:
1. Strengthening of video surveillance systems. The installation of new surveillance systems or the strengthening of existing ones are crucial in terms of prevention and repression of common crime.
Prefect Campanaro recalled that, by the end of April, the preliminary examination of 46 video surveillance projects submitted by as many municipalities in the Potenza area for funding will be completed, with the opinion of the provincial committee for public order and safety. on the Urban Security Fund of the Ministry of the Interior;
2. Extension of “Neighborhood Watch” – there are currently five Municipalities in the “Senise” area that have already signed the Protocol – as a model capable of promoting the partnership between public and private to strengthen control of the territory and, at the same time, stimulate the protagonism of citizens, through direct participation in the construction of social cohesion;
3. Strengthening the Local Police. Fundamental pivot of the multifaceted architecture of integrated security, Prefect Campanaro has urged the valorization and implementation of the workforce, in some cases completely eliminated.
Prefect Campanaro declared at the end of the meeting:
“The stakes are high, because we must keep this part of the province immune from the penetration of ordinary and organized crime.
To do this, the skills of all the stakeholders involved in safety management must be cross-referenced to consolidate the perception of closeness and trust in the institutions”.
