Recent news events inevitably place the safety problem at the center. Violence and crime often occur in neighborhoods and stations, which is why Matteo Piantedosi he underlined the urgency of increasing vigilance to put a stop to events of aggression and crime. A proposal forcefully put forward by the Minister of the Interior also following the incident in which a woman was beaten and raped at Milan Central Station.
Piantedosi plan
Piantedosi has charted the course to guarantee greater security in those places where acts of violence could occur and which would represent a danger in all respects: the will is to continue to increase the presence of the police force “in highly frequented places” such as stations, hospitals and commercial areas. “Because this has a positive impact on prevention and deterrence“, has explained.
The owner of the Viminale, in the interview given to QN, announced its intention to extend the plan to other metropolitan areas in order to strengthen controls and ensure that we can count on more security. The increased vigilance in Milan led – from 16 January to 27 April – to as many as 44,714 checks, 633 denunciations, 50 arrests, 301 expulsion orders. Piantedosi acknowledged that “the situation is improving” but at the same time he added that “certainly not enough“.
Among the hypotheses on the table there is also the Facial recognition. A subject that however turns out to be very delicate: it is necessary to work on it in synergy with the Guarantor, given that the right to security should be balanced with the right to privacy. On this point, however, Piantedosi was optimistic, given that the progressive extension of video surveillance can boast a transversal consensus: “It is a fundamental tool. Facial recognition gives further and significant possibilities for prevention and investigation“. Therefore they have already started “specific conversations” with the Guarantor to find a solution.
The security alarm
The issue of security is also linked to that ofimmigration. According to the interior minister, we must not only look at prisons, but also work on strengthening other administrative tools. An example concerns the component of crimes committed by foreign citizens: “In Milan since the beginning of 2023 there have been 11 voluntary homicides against 13 in the same period of 2022 while sexual violence has been 87 compared to 116 last year“.
It is no coincidence that there is talk of the possibility of increasing repatriations and expulsions, “necessarily strengthening the Cpr“. The state of emergency on immigration serves precisely to increase and strengthen the structures aimed at repatriation, thus enhancing the activities of identification and expulsion. Among other things, Piantedosi recently ruled out the opening of large reception centres: to reduce migratory pressure on the main landing areas, the hotspots will be directly strengthened rather than favoring the model of large centres.