Security emergency in Caserta, the Police Union writes to the commissioner: "We are 50 less"

Caserta. The letter from the LeS union after the Caserta tragedy that cost the life of Gennaro Leone.

“Most Illustrious Mr. Police Commissioner
the news of these last few days have given us a harsh truth. In our province it is a Security Emergency!
Hearing about gangs of young people armed with knives fighting each other in the streets of the capital with tragic consequences such as the death of an eighteen-year-old, or entire cities in the province in the grip of an increasingly violent nightlife, robberies, thefts in homes, businesses and cars, leads to the bitter awareness that we have truly reached the point of no return.

It is now clear that these violent events are due not only to the excessive and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol and drugs, but also to the certainty of not easily falling into the hands of the Police, not because the latter are voluntarily ineffective, but because they are insufficient to control a vast and densely populated territory such as Caserta and its province.

There is absolutely no doubt about the professionalism, the spirit of sacrifice and self-denial of our police officers and our policemen, the problem is only one, that relating to the staff now reduced to the bone by wicked choices of our Department of Public Safety that, by now, no longer pays the right and due attention to the problems of our province. They have been really good at filling their mouths (in the past) with the "Caserta model" but, only in moments of greater publicity, so much so as to even want to make it operational in other provinces. What is the result obtained? That today the Caserta model no longer exists!

This OS has learned that in the last five years the staff of the Caserta Police Headquarters seems to have been reduced by about 50 units, between retirements and transfers to other locations never compensated by the Department of PS. So we ask ourselves what was the point of the much publicized increase in the level of our Police Headquarters in "Band A?", of that infamous and much announced reinforcement of the staff of 150 units? We remember that this increase in level is the fruit of the results achieved by the Caserta police officers on the territory, it is thanks to their professionalism, to the spirit of sacrifice and self-denial that all this was possible.

A few years after this splendid result we discover that it is a great mockery, a real scam served by the Government bodies to the police and citizens of Caserta and the province. The proof can be found in the recent statements of the Minister of the Interior Luciana LAMORGESE who at the end of July announced "in the next few years" (so who knows when) the staff of the Caserta Police Headquarters will be increased from 610 to 676 units, apparently it will have increased by just 66 units.

This is a truly ridiculous number for this territory, announced by someone who absolutely does not know its dynamics, perhaps someone forgot to communicate to the Minister of the Interior that from now until the end of 2022 in Caserta there will be almost 150 police officers who will retire due to having reached the age limit, others will follow them in the years immediately following, in addition to having to take into account that many are getting older while the criminals will be increasingly younger.

Perhaps the then Deputy Minister MAURI, on the occasion of the announcement of the passage to the higher band of the Caserta Police Headquarters, was not referring to reinforcements when he spoke of the figure of 150 units, but was referring to retirements? IF SO DESIGNED IT WOULD SEEM TO BE A WELL-SERVED MOCKERY!
Esteemed Dr. BORRELLI, we can safely say that the issue relating to the Control of the Territory in our province is truly worrying, not because of the fault of the Police Forces, but because the staffing of the Police Offices in our province is no longer adequate to the current needs and dynamics of the territory, the losses in staffing and perhaps even some risky choices in the transfers of Caserta police officers from one Office to another, have put the icing on the cake to this alarming problem that, now every day, appears on the front pages of local and national newspapers.

This OS, already intervened in recent months on the organic issue of the Caserta Police Headquarters, now, also given the succession of violent episodes, is even more worried and alarmed for the safety of our police officers, macro and micro crime, violent movida are free to act undisturbed, because the police officers are fewer and fewer and are unable to guarantee the required standard of Security. At stake is both the Security of citizens who daily see themselves violated in their intimate private sphere, but above all, as mentioned, the Security of our police officers employed mostly in continuous Territorial Control services. The reduced number of units in the organization sometimes does not allow, even for several shifts, the preparation of even a single Flying Squad in some detached Police Stations

. Therefore we believe it is absolutely necessary, especially in areas such as Agro Aversano, to set up more patrols on the territory in continuous services (H24), with adequate staffing, without having to impact on the bureaucratic activity of the office, where this too is already in serious difficulty.
In light of the above, we ask you, if you have not already done so, to authoritatively intervene with the central bodies of the Department of Public Safety, as well as in the next Committee of Public Order and Safety, so that an adequate number of police officers can be assigned to our Police Headquarters.

In the meantime, in order to temporarily stem the problem, we ask you, together with your collaborators, to review, where possible, the staffing in the various Offices, as well as in the detached Police Stations, in favor of Territorial Control.

The National Secretary General, who reads for information, would like to act as spokesperson at the Department of Public Safety, informing the Chief of Police, General Director of Public Security, of the serious problem relating to the increasingly reduced staff of the Caserta Police Headquarters, reserving the right to send us official data that will be acquired shortly.
We are waiting for an urgent response.
Yours sincerely.
Caserta, August 30, 2021
The Provincial General Secretary
(Antonio Port)