Polfer 2023 Budget: 83 Arrests, 490 Investigated and 550 Checks

Over 550.000 people checked, 83 arrested and 490 investigated: this is the very first end-of-year report of the Campania Railway Police Department.

There were approximately 1.000 fines: 456 to the Highway Code and 500 fines relating to the railway police regulations.

During the year, 12.871 patrols were engaged in the station and 2.207 were on board the train. A total of 3.973 railway trains were present. Furthermore, 1.200 anti-pickpocketing services have been set up in civilian clothes, both in airports and on trains, with the aim of specifically combating thefts and scams against travellers.

Prevention activities were also encouraged thanks to the use of Army personnel as part of the “Safe Stations” operation – ordered by the Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Minister of Defence.

Numerous extraordinary days of control of the territory for a total of 42 operations: 15 "Safe Stations", aimed at strengthening checks on people and baggage; 13 “Rail Safe Days”, aimed at preventing improper or anomalous behavior, often the cause of investments; 12 "Red Gold", aimed at combating copper theft and 2 "Action Week", aimed at strengthening controls on trains carrying dangerous goods.

The fight against copper theft, which in the railway sector often causes delays in the movement of trains and significant inconvenience for travellers, has resulted in around 500 checks at metal collection and recovery centres, in around 10.000 patrolling services railway lines and approximately 200 roadside checks for suspicious vehicles. This complex device allowed the recovery of approximately 40.000 kg of the so-called "red gold" of illicit origin, the seizure of 10 illegal premises used for the storage of scrap, the seizure of 30.000 kg of other metal, the arrest of 2 people and the report from 33 subjects.

Furthermore, the activities of education on railway safety continued as part of the campaign "Train... to be cool", carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Merit and with the scientific support of the Faculty of Medicine and Psychology of the University of Rome Sapienza. During the year 2023, 6.482 students were reached and 83 meetings were held. Furthermore, the trained staff participated in several Major Events (Comicon, Giochi senza barriere, Giffoni Film Festival) reaching approximately 14.000 young people.

Lastly, the event at the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa where 250 middle school students from the Neapolitan neighborhoods of Forcella, Fuorigrotta and the municipality of Caivano (NA) aboard State Police buses went to Naples Central Station. From here, with the Railway Police Agents, they continued their journey on the historic train of the Italian State Railways to the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa where they took a guided tour of the museum accompanied by the staff of the FS Foundation.

All expertly directed by the tutor Chief Commissioner Mariapia Tranchino, whose professionalism and humanity is recognized everywhere and who unfortunately the Polfer Department will lose this year for reaching the deserved retirement.

There are many stories with happy endings: in Naples Central, in the month of May, Polfer operators, engaged in routine checks at the station, were approached by a girl who burst into tears and asked them for help: she had arrived at the station with the intention of committing suicide.
The same, reassured by the operators, decided to tell her story: a 30-year-old student living away from home at the Faculty of Law in Naples, during the lockdown she had begun to suffer from psychological distress that had gradually led her to abandon her studies.

For fear of disappointing his parents, he had lied about his studies and whether he had passed his exams, even saying that he had to take his thesis that day.
Gripped by a sense of guilt for not having had the courage to tell her parents the truth, she turned off her phone, making herself unavailable and headed in a state of confusion to Naples Central Station with bad intentions. Luckily, at the sight of the policemen, the girl found the courage to ask for help.

The parents were contacted and immediately rushed to the Polfer offices to hug their daughter again.

Many rescues have been carried out, such as the one in May at the Cancello station (CE) when a woman, in a very agitated state, showed up at the local railway station, declaring that her brother had communicated his intention to commit suicide in that railway station by throwing himself under a train.

The officers rushed to the station and immediately spotted him on the tracks where in the meantime a freight train was arriving which, upon seeing the policemen and the man, managed to brake in time.

Traffic was subsequently blocked to operate safely, the policemen who went down to the tracks discovered that the 46-year-old man, originally from the province of Caserta, had chained himself to the tracks complete with a padlock and had thrown the key about 3 meters away, fortunately it ended on a sidewalk.

Once the key was recovered and the chains removed, the 46-year-old was visited by the 118 operators and entrusted to his family.

In June, in Napoli Centrale, in the internal square of the station, a 44-year-old man suddenly collapsed to the ground, showing difficulty breathing. The Polfer operators, understanding the seriousness of the situation, immediately provided first aid and, after placing the man in a supine position, began resuscitation operations alternating cardiac massage and ventilation with the use of a rubber mask and mouthpiece.

The rescue operations continued until the arrival of the 118 paramedics who continued the resuscitation activity, also with the aid of the defibrillator, stabilizing the patient and transporting him in red code to the Emergency Room of the Policlinico.

The last one in December was the rescue of an 18-month-old child who was suffocating by the police officers of the Polfer Post of Campi Flegrei: the child, together with his grandmother, in the stroller, was suffocating, and when the police officers arrived, attracted by the screams of the woman, he was already cyanotic and with his eyes rolled upwards.

The police officers did not lose heart, they immediately removed the child from the stroller and performed pediatric disobstruction maneuvers on him.
After several attempts, in front of the incredulous crowd of people that had gathered in the meantime, the newborn finally started breathing again!

The 118 health workers then arrived on site and, after a thorough examination, they noted the good health conditions of the child and the child's parents who ran to hug him.

The parents, very scared of finding their child in the ambulance, thanked the two policemen with emotion.

All the safety measures implemented have contributed to Naples Central Station being ranked among the top ten best European stations this year by the Consumer Choice Center (CCC), an independent consumer advocacy association, which selected the 50 best train stations among the largest in Europe in the new edition of the European Railway Station Index. The Campania station ranked 7th.