Caution. Wait. For now, the police personnel associations are not saying anything about the accident involving the director of the Institutions Department Norman Gobbi on the A2 motorway in the Stalvedro area shortly after midnight on November 14th, and about the opening of criminal proceedings against one of the officers who intervened later. The day after Gobbi’s decision to suspend himself from the political leadership of the Police, in short, things were calm. But it is under the ashes that the flames always smolder.
In order. Interviewed by ‘laRegione’, the president of Ocst – Police officials Alessandro Polo he is the first to preach caution, noting that «given that a judicial investigation is currently underway and it is therefore premature to express an opinion, the fact remains that as a union we are aware of the complexity of the situation and the possible implications in which the agent in issue he found himself having to operate on. In this sense we will ensure that these aspects are taken into due consideration.”
Wheeling. «Personally, I’m a wait-and-see – he says Ivan Cimbri, president of the Ticino section of the Swiss Federation of Police Officers (FSFP) –. Like everyone else, I await the conclusions of the criminal investigation. I have the utmost confidence in the judiciary and that the police will provide the necessary assistance in a transparent manner. I am sure that the Public Ministry will provide complete clarity. The hope is that it will do so in a reasonably short time. This is to re-establish citizens’ trust in the institutions as soon as possible and to reduce the pressure on the people affected, directly or indirectly, by this affair, and consequently on the entire police force”.
He claims Joel Scaglia, interim president of the Vpod-Polizia union, chief sergeant of the Polcantonale, who has been in the Gendarmerie for sixteen years: «Both public opinion and the body of the Cantonale expect the judiciary to shed full light on what happened. Obviously I trust in the work of the Public Ministry so that the various questions can be answered and any doubts dispelled.” For eight years Scaglia has also been a teacher at the Police School regarding inability to drive due to alcohol, drugs, drugs and exhaustion. «The topic – he explains – is practically daily: for alcohol tests there is a precise procedure which is based on equally precise legal bases. And it is a procedure that the operational officers on patrol know well.”
«It’s obvious – he observes Giorgio Galusoro, former officer of the cantonal police and, after retiring, deputy of the PLR in the Grand Council, where he remained for sixteen years (until 2023) – that this story, the questions it raises and the inevitable media resonance are not good to the image of the cantonal police force. Furthermore, there is now the president (Fiorenzo Dadò, ed.) of an important party (the Centre, ed.) who even asks the leading officials, including the commander, who dealt with the case to reflect on the opportunity to suspend themselves pending the conclusion of the criminal investigation. I won’t go into the merits, but it is a very serious request. And so – adds Galusero – it is important that the Public Ministry clarifies the management of that road accident as soon as possible. The longer the time goes on, the more suspicions and doubts increase.”
Galfetti: ‘Less two hours between the two tests’
The criminal proceedings, coordinated by the general prosecutor Andrea Pagani and aimed at clarifying what happened in the phases following the accident that occurred in Gobbi, currently registers one accused: an agent of the Polcantonale, or rather, a senior cadre of the Gendarmerie who arrived on site subsequently on patrol. The criminal offenses for which the investigation was launched against the agent and unknown persons are abuse of authority and aiding and abetting. “Based on the documentation that I was able to see – the lawyer Renzo Galfetti, Gobbi’s lawyer, declared the day before yesterday on ‘Liberatv’ –, the two blood alcohol tests took place in compliance with the procedures”. And, we ask the lawyer, how much time would have passed between the precursor alcohol test and the evidentiary one to which the State Councilor was subjected? «I think it’s less than two hours – he replies Renzo Galfetti to the ‘Region’ –. And in any case it is not a time limit within the competence of my client.” In short, adds the lawyer, «to me there is no evidence of any improprieties committed by my client, other than rumors. No impropriety.”
In internal Switzerland we continue to talk about it
The story continues to have an echo even beyond Gotthard. The internal Swiss media, which in recent days had already reported “the mysterious accident involving the director of the Ticino police”, gave ample space to the developments of the case. “The ‘Gobbi case’ is causing a stir in Ticino. The League’s state councilor suspends himself,” headlines the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on its website. Blick instead highlights the criminal proceedings opened by PG Pagani: “A criminal investigation has been opened into the accident involving Norman Gobbi”. For its part, the information portal Watson.ch focuses on the fact that it was the coordinator of the League who took the initiative, “Norman Gobbi hands over the management of the Ticino police”. All the media, in reporting the news, citing the details made public by the Ticino press, recall that the suspension is expected until the end of the criminal and administrative investigations. And that the state councilor involved in the accident is not under investigation.
