One year of activity of the State Police in the Railway Department of Campania: 200.000 people identified, 149 arrests, 469 reported and 12 tons of copper seized

In 2019, the Railway Police Department for Campania carried out intense surveillance and control activities, employing approximately 4.000 patrols on board 7.345 trains considered at risk and others 13.851 patrols located in the major railway stations of the region, so as to guarantee the safety of the myriad of travellers who daily crowd the Campania stations.

Inside the stations of Campania, the Railway Police has identified a “game plan” that, in the game engaged against widespread crime, allows to cover the entire field of action of the railway stations, deploying the Polfer agents in an advanced position. With metal detectors and latest-generation palmtops, the Railway police have guaranteed the implementation of a meticulous deterrent and prevention activity and, at the same time, have ensured greater proximity to the citizen, allowing a positive impact on real and perceived safety, to the advantage of travellers, tourists and operators in the sector.

In the central station of Naples, the main railway hub in southern Italy where more than 500 thousand travellers, the railway police has implemented a perimeter security device which, by circumscribing the entire perimeter of the station, limits access to only 5 checkpoints, all manned by State Police personnel and Army soldiers employed in the “Safe Roads” operation, thus allowing for accurate surveillance of the territory and allowing random checks of travellers and their luggage, also with the help of dogs from the Naples Police Headquarters' Canine Unit.

Both the perimeter and control devices, created in recent months when FS Italiane installed the platform entrance gates, were designed to ensure tight controls in the station area and to allow, also in synergy with the Corporate Protection of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and the subsidiary security of the Private Security Guards, to more easily identify any ill-intentioned people so as to prevent the commission of crimes of various kinds.

This strategy has allowed to eliminate all the small illegalities, allowing an easier identification of any socially dangerous criminals.

The results obtained over time with the use of this device have allowed us to detect the achievement of the set objectives, recording a decrease, compared to previous years, of 60% of crimes committed within the city airport. 

Over the course of the last year, the patrols employed on duty at Naples Central Station have proceeded to identify approximately 200.000 people,  41.580 of whom, upon checking the computerised archive of the Police Force, were found to have criminal and police records; 149 instead, they are the people arrested for various crimes while 469 they were reported at large.

In 2019, the Railway Police officers checked as many as 2.024 vehicles that were circulating in the areas under the jurisdiction of the stations, proceeding with seizures and fines.

Instead, they were issued 109 removal orders, the measures introduced with the "City Safety" decree and intended for those sobjects that commit administrative crimes, such as unlicensed vendors, illegal parking attendants and beggars, which impede the free and safe use of public spaces.

Finally the railway police officers raised 1.481 contraventions, of which 366 in accordance with the Railway Police regulations and mostly relating to incorrect behaviour such as crossing tracks or failing to respect level crossings.

Precisely with regard to these incorrect attitudes, the Railway Police has long been implementing a campaign to raise awareness and educate on legality with a project, aimed at primary and secondary school students, called "Train…to be cool”. This project, created in collaboration with the MIUR and scientifically validated by the Faculty of Medicine and Psychology of the Sapienza University of Rome, aims to raise awareness among young people about respecting the rules so that they adopt responsible behavior in the railway sector, thus avoiding accidents often caused by carelessness or imprudence. For the 2018-2019 school year, specially trained Railway Police officers held 75 meetings in 45 schools in the region and, also by participating in major events such as the International Comics Fair Comicon in Naples, have achieved over 15.000 young people who have been involved in the knowledge and application of the rules of correct behaviour in the railway sector which allow the reduction of those accidents which often have dramatic consequences.   

Even in the activity of combating thefts of "red gold", the Railway Police Department for Campania has recorded a dizzying reduction in the phenomenon in recent years.

In 2019 alone, approximately 12 tons of copper in use at FS Italiane and seized from scrap recovery companies based throughout the region.

I 112 checks carried out in the last year at scrap dealers and companies specialising in the disposal of ferrous waste, which led to the reporting of 7 business owners for stolen and / or violation of the rules on the treatment of special waste,  have made the illicit trade of copper stolen from railway installations more difficult, consequently causing a drastic reduction in thefts even, counter-trend, in periods in which the value of copper on the market has reached its highest peak prices.

In fact, the statistics, which have examined the illicit theft of cables of valuable material from 2000 to today, have allowed us to record in this last year, also thanks to the collaboration with the Corporate Protection of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and with the territorial offices of the Police Forces, the achievement of best result in the last twenty years.