Italy: Worrying trends detailed in interior ministry report on security
01 September 2005
On 18 August 2005, the Italian interior ministry published its annual report on security for 2005, which seeks to evaluate developments since 2001, when the current government came into power. This was shortly before the G8 summit in Genoa in July of that year which was marked by heavy-handed policing, casting a shadow over the police and carabinieri (Italy’s paramilitary police) forces. The first part of the report looks at different forms of criminal activity: “widespread criminal activity” (thefts, robberies and fraud); violent crime involving murders; organised crime and related criminal activity by Italian (the Mafia in Sicily, ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria, Camorra in Campania, and the Sacra Corona Unita in Apulia) and foreign criminal organisations (in fields such as drug trafficking/dealing, extorsion and profiteering, and criminal activity in the economic, environmental, IT and artistic heritage); illegal immigration; criminal activity by minors; and a final chapter entitled “terrorism and so-called widespread political illegality” (divided into “internal terrorism” of a Marxist-Leninist or anarchist nature, “international terrorism” of an Islamist nature, and “widespread political illegality” encompassing both left-wing movements and the far right).
The second part of the report looks at crime prevention and security initiatives that have been adopted: a) proximity policing, neighbourhood police officers, control of the territory and technological innovation; b) public order, particularly during demonstrations and sports events; c) the protection of people who are “at risk” and of “sensitive” targets; d) a programme aimed at southern regions to promote security and development; and e) international police cooperation within Europol and cooperation of an operative nature, involving the deployment of liaison officers and joint operations against criminal activity.
In the midst of figures showing a general improvement in security over the four-year period, a number of worrying trends are illustrated:
- in the first semester of 2005, 29,228 websites were under surveillance;
- from 2002 to 2005, over 11,000 “illegal” migrants were expelled in charter flights;
- building work has started on the first of three planned Italian-funded holding centres for migrants in Lybia (Garyan)
- large-scale raids and identification targeting foreigners and the expulsion of “radicals”;
- a shift in the emphasis of police activity, targeting migrants and low-level street crime
- the interior ministry’s insistence in linking terrorism and anti-globalisation or left-wing political activity;
Concern over “perceived security”: targeting low-level crime
Introducing the report, the Interior Minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, highlighted the decrease in the number of thefts and murders in Italy, adding that the most significant development was the increase in crimes committed by “illegal” immigrants, who represented over 28% of the 611,000 people who were arrested or reported to judicial authorities in 2004. He did not relate these figures to an increase in police activity targeting migrants. Pisanu stressed that official crime statistics must be considered alongside concerns such as “real crime, perceived crime and uncivilised [or anti-social] behaviour”, which affect citizens’ sense of “subjective security”. The argument about “subjective” or “perceived” security is further developed in the section concerning crimes that, while not deemed particularly serious, “have a strong effect on citizens’ sensitivity and on their perception of security”. This concern has led to “high impact operations” which are part of a new model of territorial control introduced in August 2002 to “combat forms of delinquency that have the greatest impact on citizens’ sense of security”, namely low-level crime, listed as prostitution, illegal immigration, drug<