The police forces are not enough to monitor the areas at risk of petty crime and the mayor Carlo Salvemini writes to the prefect Luca Rotondi. The letter is dated March 12 but its contents were only made known yesterday.
Salvemini calls for the activation of the “Safe Streets” project in the city which involves the joint use of police forces and the army to create fixed garrisons that can make areas particularly exposed to phenomena of degradation and petty crime safer.
The mayor is the spokesperson for a need expressed by citizens residing in sensitive points such as Piazza Italia, the train station and the municipal park. Areas which, if they were manned by the armed forces, would be safer for citizens. Salvemini, in the letter addressed to the prefect, underlines “the enormous effort of the police forces to whom I always express my gratitude for the sacrifice with which they carry out their work”.
Lecce is placed in the national median range in terms of safety level. In 2023 it ranked 55th in the “Justice and Security” indicator of the annual “Quality of Life” survey of Il Sole 24 Ore, up 16 positions compared to 2022. The police forces are committed to ensuring patrolling with few personnel over a very large city area, up to 241 square kilometres, which for most of the year is crossed by significant tourist flows which in fact lead to an increase in the population to be guaranteed safety.
«It is undeniable, therefore – writes the mayor Carlo Salvemini – that even in local situations not at general risk there are “critical” situations that contribute significantly to undermining the general framework of the perceived level of safety. For this reason, I believe it is right to consider the use of the so-called Safe Roads project which authorised, for specific and exceptional crime prevention needs, the use of a contingent of military personnel from the armed forces, placed at the disposal of the prefects of the provinces, to conduct surveillance activities at sensitive sites and objectives and patrol, in competition and jointly with the police forces. This force system, which is still active fifteen years after its deployment, has not only proven to be an effective tool of deterrence and prevention but, above all, an extraordinary incremental quotient in the level of security perceived by citizens”. The “Safe Roads” project is foreseen by law 125 of 24 July 2008.
