Cuts to the Reggio police, SIULP protests in the square (with the support of Tarquini)

April 20, 2024 at 4:36 pm

Protest this morning by SIULP in Piazza Prampolini against the feared closure of the Crime Prevention Department in Reggio Emilia due to the cuts decided by the Government.

“The ministerial circulars would put forward hypotheses regarding a possible saving in public spending – – explains the Siulp provincial secretary Aldo Aragiusto – We summarized the activity of the Crime Prevention Department of Reggio Emilia in the information flyer distributed this morning. What does the Department do? What will happen in the event of closure? The result of this probable closure? We then reported the 2023 data, the results and the brilliant operations that the Crime Prevention Department conducted in our province and throughout the national territory. From the discovery of the first marijuana plantation by a Chinese citizen in our province way back in 2015, to the numerous rescue operations, for the earthquakes in L’Aquila and Emilia Romagna, the flood in Modena (Bomporto and Bastiglia), without count the numerous arrests and numerous checks that colleagues carry out every single day in our Reggio Emilia, regional and national territory.
“If the project to close the department were to materialise, around 50 policemen who only carry out operational tasks, i.e. extraordinary control of the territory, would be taken off the streets, in other words the structure of control of the territory would be weakened. The probability is that these men risk being transferred and assigned (losing them in bureaucratic tasks) to the various offices in the province and with the result that there would be fewer policemen on the streets.

We reiterate that closing the Reggio Emilia Crime Prevention Department is a mistake. The investigative activity is based on a solid basis of territorial control. Weakening control of the territory is equivalent to weakening investigative activity and consequently strengthening petty crime, mafias, drug dealing and all illicit activities. I personally want to thank all our supporters and in particular, the citizens of Reggio Emilia who have been very close to us in these hours with numerous messages of solidarity. I thank all the political representatives, the representatives of the Government and the Opposition who joined our cry of protest. The mayoral candidates of our province, the Emilia Romagna Legislative Assembly, which with a regional question asked the Minister of the Interior to account. Finally, I thank the representatives of the Government itself who presented a parliamentary question.”

The lawyer Giovanni Tarquini also expressed his support and closeness to SIULP during the leafleting this morning in Piazza Prampolini. The centre-right civic candidate, who spoke at length with the Siulp delegates, commented: “The prospect of closing the Crime Prevention Department of the Reggio Emilia Police Headquarters clashes with the motivated requests of the Siulp, the most representative union of the Police in the province of Reggio Emilia , and even before that with the protection needs of the citizens of Reggio Emilia who see the widespread condition of insecurity and the widespread diffusion of criminal phenomena increasingly growing. Unfortunately, this possible closure is the effect of a policy in the area which over time has avoided strongly reporting the seriousness of the situation. We can only reiterate that this important department must remain active and that the safety of citizens must be at the center of the work of the municipal administration which therefore has the duty to take action at least to avoid losing the important facilities already present in the city”.