“Through their women and men, called to fulfill this difficult and essential task, the State Police, in even the most dramatic phases of the country’s history, contributed decisively to the cohesion of the Nation and guaranteed, since the birth of the Republic, the protection of fundamental freedoms, the salvation of democratic institutions, also ensuring the conditions for progress and collective and individual well-being. ” This is the reason for the gold medal conferred by the President of the Republic on the Flag of the State Police. The prestigious recognition was awarded on the 169th anniversary of the foundation of the State Police, and on the fortieth anniversary of Law 121/81 which, as underlined by Police chief, prefect Lamberto Giannini, “carried within himself the seed of great evolutions, redesigning a modern police force with a strong civil identity”.
For the second consecutive year, the epidemiological emergency imposed the utmost sobriety in the celebrations and the Chief of Police was received by the President of the Republic, accompanied by the Deputy Chiefs of Police, by the central directors of the Department of Public Security and by a representative of the personal, while the service of the Guard of Honor at the Quirinal Palace was entrusted to the Department on horseback of the State Police who for the occasion wearing the historical uniform of the Risorgimento.
Immediately afterwards, the Minister of the Interior Luciana Lamorgese, accompanied by the Chief of Police, placed a laurel wreath at the Memorial of the Fallen at the Scuola Superiore di Polizia, where Mattarella’s message was read and the balance of the difficult months of the pandemic, in which – alongside the great commitment to help citizens grappling with the many problems determined by Covid 19 and accompany the daily and constant commitment of doctors and health workers of the State Police – the fight against the mafias continued. 2020, in addition to the arrest of numerous fugitives, also recorded the seizure, by the State Police, of assets worth over 177 million euros and the confiscation of assets with a total value of almost 220 million. The number of calls to 113 is always high, which in 2020 almost reached 5 million. But all police activities in 2020 have been reshaped due to the health emergency due to Covid-19, so much so that, scrolling through the data reported in the compendium, the total number of checks carried out in a pandemic year immediately jumps to the eye ( period 10/3 / 2020-16 / 3/2021), during which the State Police carried out almost 38 million checks on people and more than 9.5 million on commercial businesses. But it is in the number of complaints following these checks that highlights how, despite the particularly difficult period, the Italians responded with discipline and respect for the rules; in fact, about 620 thousand people were reported and a little more than 27 thousand sanctions against commercial businesses and owners. Other particularly significant data, if compared with those of the previous year, are those of the fight against “computer crime”, which includes crimes such as phishing, identity theft, the spread of malware and computer attacks in general.