Patrolling of the territory, emergency interventions, control activities in the workplace, prevention and repression of crimes, fight against the spread of drugs, defense of urban decorum, protection of vulnerable groups, fight against predatory crimes and gender violence. These are the areas in which, over the last year, the Piacenza carabinieri of the various departments that report to the provincial command of Piacenza have invested the greatest energy. But not only the provincial commander, Colonel Pierantonio Breda also announced the completion of the logistical activities aimed at the opening of the new carabinieri barracks in Podenzano and the green light for the ex novo construction of the building that will house the Fiorenzuola carabinieri company in the Madonna delle Cinque streets district between via Illica and via Emilio Salgari. Breda also remembered the ten-year anniversary of the death of police officer Luca Di Pietra during a chase in Castelsangiovanni and of the assassination of brigadier Alberto Araldi, shot by fascists eighty years ago: «We will remember them as they deserve, many times we look to distant heroes when instead there are also ones close to us who can call us to a personal commitment”.
The opportunity to take stock of the activity carried out (the numbers refer to the time period between 1 May 2023 and 30 April 2024) and illustrate the results achieved by the Piacenza Army is the celebration on 5 June of the 210th anniversary of the foundation of the Army. Also for this year, the Piacenza Army – we read in a note – has put all the effort it is capable of to guarantee maximum closeness to citizens and the most qualified support for people who find themselves in times of need as has happened for over two centuries. As regards the overall number of crimes committed in the province of Piacenza, from the data collected and the trend in crime, a certain decline in criminal phenomena emerges (9,936 compared to 10,205) and also for this year the majority were prosecuted by the Carabinieri (8,769). In the last year 112 received 107,813 calls, an intervention was achieved in 11,483 phone calls, in 1,625 cases it was a rescue, in 1,238 cases intervention was requested for private disagreements, in 861 cases road accidents were reported.
A key factor was the action of progressive optimization of the use of available resources and the planning of external services with the increase in specific prevention services aimed in particular at combating predatory crimes. The commitment of the Piacenza carabinieri this year, takes the form of over 18,211 external services (on average around fifty per day), carried out to intercept inconveniences and needs in the bud, to make the free exercise of rights possible by all citizens, especially those who find themselves in a condition of fragility and vulnerability. To also improve visibility and proximity in urban centres, much focus has been placed on walking services (199 in the last four months).
BARRACKS
The rationalization of the opening hours of the stations was completed with the extension of public reception in Castel San Giovanni and Monticelli, now active from 8am to 8pm. In this regard, please note that the operation of the stations is ensured 24 hours a day via the 112 emergency network, a service that must be contacted immediately in emergency situations or also for information on the procedures to be adopted. The prevention activity to protect road safety implemented through checks on road users through the use of alcohol tests with 132 licenses withdrawn was highly incisive. More than 65 thousand (65,306) people were checked, almost 33 thousand (32,998) documents and over 46 thousand (46,163) vehicles were checked during interventions and checkpoints set up on all provincial roads, of which 132 were seized and 69 were subjected to administrative detention .
PROTECTION OF WEAKNESSES AND TRAINING
The Piacenza Army has been committed as a whole to providing citizens with one precious social function for the benefit of the weakest groups. The action of the Piacenza carabinieri was particularly attentive in this area, organizing in synergy with schools of all levels of education 76 meetings aimed at providing the 3,773 participants with in-depth knowledge of the many issues related to respect for the rule of law, bringing young people closer to the institutions and spreading the principles and ideals of freedom, equality and justice. Also very important is the collaboration with the municipalities and parishes of the entire province which allowed the widespread organization, in the first months of this year, of 25 events dedicated to the 1,120 elderly people who participated on the topic of fraud prevention, thus creating that model of community policing, which has always been a distinctive feature of the Carabinieri. It is precisely in these meetings that they were distributed as part of the project “Anti-fraud sticker”designed by the Carabinieri Provincial Command, shared by the Prefecture of Piacenza and supported by the Province of Piacenza, a sticker to hang on the inside of the door and a second sticker intended to be attached to the doorbell, which are intended to be a warning to bad guys, letting them know that the house is inhabited by people who know how to recognize scam attempts. Communication activities with users have great operational value because 10% of crimes require the “necessary collaboration” of the victim. It is for this reason that the communication campaigns were developed and integrated by a series of more in-depth meetings, dedicated to bodies, orders, associations and provincial command, in order to encourage the dissemination of good practices in the field of safety.
THE SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS: LABOR INSPECTORATE, FORESTRY AND NAS
The synergy with the special departments of the Army in the province was highlighted with the activity of the NAS, whose operators are present in the area every day, to protect public health, and of the Labor Inspectorate Unit with the organization of targeted checks on issues such as safety in the workplace and regular use of manpower. During the year, 165 inspections were carried out in the city and province of the companyand, construction sites and commercial activities, to guarantee employed workers and their safety at work, high sanctions and fines for a total value equal to 392 thousand euros and 36 work suspensions were carried out for “illegal work” or serious safety violations. The cooperation between the soldiers of the territorial stations and the Forestry Carabinieri Units has been extensive and constant. Suffice it to mention the further ones 6 thousand (6,261) joint controls, 408 offenses reported to 377 people for the protection of fauna and flora for a value of over 736 thousand euros (736,165) in fines imposed. It is also worth mentioning the services carried out with the support of specific anti-poison dog units in the city, in the “Bassa”, in Monticelli and in Borgonovo Val Tidone with the aim of combating the phenomenon of poisoned bait dispersed in parks and countryside.
GENDER VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL CRIMES
Particular attention was paid to the interventions necessary to counteract a certain widespread contentiousness within the home and beyond. The commitment in the field of gender violence was strong: the Piacenza force mainly intervened in the sector of family abuse (183) and in persecutory acts (63). There were 59 arrests and preventive measures carried out against individuals who had violated the ban on approaching and communicating with the family. During 2024, fruitful results were obtained on some cases of sexual harassment and violence against young women in the city. For the 18 episodes that occurred in 2023/2024, 4 separate alleged perpetrators have been identified, investigations are underway to identify those responsible for the other events.
COMPLAINTS AND ARRESTS
The effective counteraction of the Piacenza force is quantified in 1,823 complaints and 155 arrests involving known perpetrators and which – when compatible with the confidentiality due to the victims or with the development of the investigations – have risen to the headlines. We remember in November 2023 the case of the murder of the 57-year-old worker killed – according to the investigative reconstruction – by a young colleague with some stab wounds inside the house in Niviano where the two lived together with other colleagues. Some details, discrepancies and other small details collected by the police at the crime scene convinced the investigators to follow the trail of voluntary homicide. Before the arrest, the alleged perpetrator, a 21-year-old worker, had initially said that he had found his colleague dead on the ground when he returned home. After the long interrogation in the barracks, he confessed to the crime, confirming the hypothesis of the Piacenza carabinieri who identified the probable motive in a violent quarrel that suddenly arose between the two roommates, perhaps due to previous personal frictions and excluding the possibility of domestic accident.
PROTECTION OF THE FRAGILE
Other events that give the figure of what most characterizes the work of the Carabinieri are, for example, listening and rescue activities for the elderly or interventions in the case of people who want to make extreme gestures. An example of this is what happened in March 2024, when a Station Commander managed to prevent a 21-year-old young man from taking his own life by throwing himself off a roof by using the ground. From an organizational point of view, the operational capabilities of the provincial force have been strengthened with the qualification of two negotiators. The challenging selection and demanding training course was brilliantly overcome by two women working in departments of the province. During the year, a new shooting instructor was also qualified (a figure who deals with all the operational aspects of the intervention), who, at the end of the exam, qualified at the top of the national level. On the sidelines of these training activities, it is specified that all the carabinieri of the province are subjected to at least bimonthly training sessions and that over a hundred of them, in the current year, have attended courses on investigative topics, on operational intervention techniques, in accident prevention matters, safe driving in emergencies. Training is therefore central and has a permanent nature.
THE NEW BARRACKS
During the first months of 2024, activities were also developed that will lead, in the short term, to the opening of the Podenzano Carabinieri barracks, which will become the thirtieth station of the province and at the start of the project planning of the new headquarters of the Carabinieri Company of Fiorenzuola. Both projects had a decisive contribution and support from the Municipalities of Podenzano and Fiorenzuola.
