The Municipality focuses on cameras to stem violent nightlife – L’Aquila

THE EAGLE. It has been known for some time that security is an integrated system, i.e. the result of the work of multiple entities coordinated with each other. And on Saturday evening, the demonstration took place in the city. The fight in Santa Maria Paganica, the new heart of nightlife, and the fire that broke out on the same evening in a pizzeria in Piazza Duomo, with all the difficulties of the firefighters’ intervention in juggling construction sites and wild stops, were in fact enough to broaden the discussion, and the related controversies, from the simple presence-absence of the police, to roads, parking, occupation of public land by businesses, up to street furniture. These are all elements capable of having a decisive impact on the very intervention capabilities of those who are called upon to guarantee security, law enforcement primarily. And while citizens report an increased sense of perceived insecurity, the Municipality continues with the expansion of the video surveillance system so that, where it cannot be prevented, it can at least be identified quickly.
“unforeseeable situations”
«There are situations that are not predictable and that can hardly be prevented from happening. The important thing, however, is to activate all those tools that can act not only as a deterrent, but which can then allow the facts to be ascertained in the event of an investigation by the police. From this point of view, video surveillance probably represents the most useful tool”, declares the councilor responsible for urban security and video surveillance, Fabrizio Taranta. «The project already presented, and for which we have received all the necessary authorizations, is currently being implemented and an operations room is currently being set up in each of the police headquarters, therefore municipal police, police headquarters, police of finance and Carabinieri. Once this step has been completed, which takes a few days, the work relating to the infrastructural part will begin (laying the optical fibre, identifying the poles for installation). As it is infrastructured, it is in any case a project that needs its time to be fully implemented”, specifies Taranta. «However, once the work is completed, we will have around 900 more observation points than those already present (around 120, ndc) which will serve precisely to have an instrument of deterrence, and at the same time also to assist the police in ascertaining the facts”, with those responsible who will thus be able to “be identified and prosecuted in a very short period of time”. The system provides “live monitoring, 24 hours a day, and archiving of images for the following 7 days”.
«I understand that, in a city like L’Aquila, episodes like that of Santa Maria Paganica can cause widespread confusion», concludes Taranta, «but we must always remember that all the safety indicators of our city tell us that the problem is still contained , especially compared to other urban realities, without prejudice to the fact that guard levels must never be lowered and all appropriate measures must be taken”.