To understand the last 40 years of Italian history it is necessary to go through here: law 121 of 1981, the transformation of the body of public security guards into the State Police. It is necessary to do this because a piece of the growth of our democracy inevitably passes through the demilitarization of a body that becomes, in the words of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in a mission not only devoted to the presidium of security, “but projected towards care of the democratic order and which contributes to making the freedom to exercise the rights guaranteed by the Constitution “. Having built a more democratic police force in these forty years has essentially meant having built a more democratic country.
The story of this journey is the backbone of “The reform of the Public Security Administration”, the volume that will be published today, on the fortieth anniversary of the law, the day also chosen to celebrate the police force. However, in what has turned into an adversary tinged with great sadness: the volume was edited (in collaboration with the External Relations and Ceremonial Office) by the prefect and Councilor of State, Carlo Mosca, one of the creators of law 121. That in these hours, at the age of 75, he disappeared, a victim of Covid.
The preface of the volume was edited by the President of the Republic. He recalls how “the forty years of the reform law of the Public Security Administration coincide with another anniversary that 2021 gives us: the 160th anniversary of the unification of Italy. They are closely linked recurrences. Because the Police is one of the faces of the state. And the history of the police is part of the story of the construction of the unitary state “. The law of 81, Mattarella recalls, marked a shadow line. The Police has taken on an aspect of modernity by becoming “a body of the State that citizens recognize as a friend, accessible and open, an element of cohesion. A” democratic empathy “defines it the Head of State,” gained on the ground even in the very hard days of this annus horribilis that has just passed, but was born in the difficult years of terrorism, nourished, in the long 40 years since the introduction of the reform, by the work and sacrifice of its members. A long commitment that has thus produced its effects “.
The 121 effectively led to the Police, and therefore to the country, military changes: the “demilitarization” meant opening up to gender equality (only then was it guaranteed to women equal access and career modalities), to the trade union world, were created technical and health roles and opened up to internal inspectors. But a crucial word was also forcefully introduced: that of prevention. The prefect Moscow writes it, in what today must be read as a testament to his work: “The renewal and cultural renaissance have accredited a new theory, that of shared and participatory security, which has redetermined the relationship between communities and forces of police, which make use of the active collaboration of citizens, as an effective tool for the prevention of crimes “.
“But demilitarization, unionization, equalization of the role of women, creation of the role of inspectors, all the requests for democratization and modernization that finally found a systemic response in that April 1981 are not the only merit of that law” says Franco Gabrielli , who after leading the police since 2016, is now undersecretary to the Prime Minister. “The State Police – says Gabrielli – chose to celebrate the anniversary of its foundation, dating back to 1852, precisely on 10 April, to underline the indissoluble bond that binds the institution to that legislative provision: 121 was the law that it defined and disciplined the architecture of the Public Security Administration in our country by establishing some key principles in our system. First of all, the uniqueness of the National Public Security Authority, identified in the Minister of the Interior “.
“Security certainly generates power,” says another of the fathers of this law, the vice president of the Constitutional Court, Giuliano Amato, who helped to think about the law with Moscow. “But it is also and must be guaranteed as a right. From 121 a perfect world has not emerged, of course – says Amato – dysfunctions that we already knew have not totally disappeared, but today, the closer we get to that wise balance between unification and coordination that the law has adopted as a model, the more things work out “. There are cops who were born with this law. “I, who entered the service at the end of the eighties, am the son of this reform. It presented me with a challenge: to combine ancient wisdom with modern knowledge and skills to be able to respond to the needs and requirements of citizens” he says. Lamberto Giannini. The new chief of police.
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