Assaults, thefts, robberies: while waiting for the meeting of the Committee on public order in the Prefecture in Milan, there is a question and answer between the mayor Giuseppe Sala and the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana.
For the Northern League governor “we need to stop pretending that nothing happens, let’s start having serious discussions without saying that everything is fine”. Fontana points the finger at those who “accusing us of political speculation, have hidden the dirt under the carpet, which now, however, is coming out”. “If they had noticed it earlier, we would not have reached this level – he said – Now it is clear that we need to intervene and in a rigorous manner because the situation is worrying”.
The mayor’s response was not long in coming: “I’ve never hidden anything under the rug”. Sala has long been asking for more police forces sent by the interior ministry, cameras and at least a hundred more policemen and carabinieri. In short, more controls and more agents, and he explains: “I asked for an equivalence between the economic effort we are making and an equal amount of police officers and carabinieri and I don’t think that is happening”. “I did not understand – he underlines – if more people are arriving from the government”.
This too will be one of the topics on the table at Wednesday’s meeting in the Prefecture, which will be attended by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, with the prefect Renato Saccone and the heads of the forces of order. The Viminale has long ago launched a ‘strengthened’ security plan for the stations in the big cities: Milan, Rome and Naples.
Almost 500 people have been checked in the area around the Milanese railway station since mid-January. But the security issue extends to the whole city. During 2022, in Milan, the police made about 13 arrests a day for a total of 4,368 arrests (+14.56 compared to the previous year). The data on the Municipality relating to police activities also speak of an increase in subjects reported on the loose and under investigation (15,366, +14.62%), of checked documents (553,920, +14.34%). There was a decrease in personal checks (984,568, -5.71%) and those on vehicles (65,793, -1.16%). A specular trend in the metropolitan area of Milan where, however, controlled persons (1,436,752, +6.08%) and vehicles (104,918, +6.63%) also increased.