Obvious critical issues, staff shortages that affect emergency interventions, the need for investments in men and equipment reported several times.
These were the issues addressed during the General Council of the FNS Cisl Sicily held in Messina, at the CISL Messina headquarters in Viale Europa, which addressed the situation that security workers have to face.
«Last summer’s fires and the commitment of the firefighters are still in everyone’s mind – recalled the general secretary of the CISL Messina, Antonino Alibrandi, in greeting the guests – but also the emergency being experienced in the prisons in Messina and at the Opg in Barcelona. Situations that we have always paid attention to as CISL and on which we need to intervene at an institutional level.”
«What we ask of the administration and politics – said the national secretary of the Fns Cisl, Massimo Vespia – is greater attention. Unfortunately, what happened in previous years demonstrates that the forces in place are not sufficient to deal with the fire emergency and recently we have also involved the undersecretary, the minister himself. We need a signal, greater attention also because it’s not just fires, there is the issue of hydrogeological instability. And it is here that the shortage of fire brigade personnel becomes evident, especially in many peripheral detachments, some of which have been closed.”
«We are worried – confirms the general secretary of the Fns Cisl Sicilia, Domenico Ballotta – what happened last year confirms that urgent measures are necessary. Last summer the population, seeing their homes burning and their goods going up in smoke, was so angry that they attacked the firefighters or the so-called emergency workers. Unfortunately we have a lack of personnel, means and tools to deal with an emergency like last year and for this reason we asked for meetings in advance with the prefects of the Sicilian cities”.
Another very current topic is that of the penitentiary police. The latest episode in Barcelona, in recent days, where there was an escape. «We have suffered from a wrong policy over the years – adds Vespia – the penitentiary police is a police force in all respects and unfortunately attacks on penitentiary police personnel are now frequent».
«In the last year, in Sicily, there have been more than 1950 critical events – continues Domenico Ballotta – that is. every month, 250 episodes which could be fights or attacks against prison staff. The escape in Barcelona is a bad sign of how much the workforce is struggling to control the structures adequately. A shortage that is also noted in the juvenile sector.”
