Mayor Franz Caruso conferred the Civic Merit of the city to Dr Michele Maria Spina, Police commissioner of the province of Cosenza. The ceremony was held this afternoon in the council room of Palazzo dei Bruzi, in the presence of the President of the City Council, Giuseppe Mazzuca and the civil, military and religious authorities. Among those present, the Prefect of Cosenza Vittoria Ciaramella, the Archbishop of Cosenza-Bisignano, Monsignor Giovanni Checchinato, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Cosenza, Mario Spagnuolo, the provincial Commander of the Carabinieri, Agatino Saverio Spoto, the provincial Commander of the Guard of Finance, Giuseppe Dell’Anna, the Vice-Rector of the University of Calabria, Patrizia Piro, representing the Rector, Nicola Leone, the Commander of the 1st Bersaglieri Regiment, Francesco Ferrara, the Commander of the Military Air Force Detachment, Massimo Alligri, the Provincial Commander of the Fire Brigade, Giampiero Rizzo, the President of the Cosenza Academy, Antonio D’Elia and all the leaders of the Cosenza Police Headquarters. Having arrived in Cosenza in November 2022, Police Commissioner Michele Maria Spina is about to leave his post in the next few days to retire.
“Today – said Mayor Franz Caruso – is an important day for our city and for the municipal administration. I am particularly pleased to confer this significant recognition on Police Commissioner Michele Maria Spina, because it contains the city’s appreciation of a personality who has particularly distinguished himself in his professional and human activity at the service of the community. A figure, that of Doctor Spina – continued the mayor – who aroused the appreciation of the city of Cosenza from the first moment in which he was assigned, due to his prestigious role, to our territory. Through this merit, the city of Cosenza wants to highlight the example of Doctor Spina in carrying out his duties, although difficult, but always faced with strength and determination and never separated from a notable charge of humanity”. Franz Caruso also recalled the arrival in the city of Police Commissioner Spina and the first meeting at Palazzo dei Bruzi, dating back to 10 November 2022. “With him – underlined the Mayor – we have established, in full respect of their respective roles and functions , a relationship of great synergy and institutional collaboration, through constant and direct comparison, every time the opportunity arose, and from which an identity of views emerged from the first moment. And we have strengthened and cemented these synergies over time, in full awareness that in our city there were, as there still are, portions of territory in need of control, interventions and the presence of the State Police forces without which Cosenza would be a less protected city. We are extremely convinced that the cornerstones on which we have based our administrative action, namely legality, transparency and solidarity, in order to achieve the objectives of citizen safety and the fight against all forms of illegality, can continue to be pursued only as long as the right institutional synergies are established, as happened with the Police Commissioner Michele Maria Spina, because it is precisely the latter that reveal all their potential to combat abuse, malfeasance and any criminal resurgence”. During the ceremony, the general secretary of Palazzo dei Bruzi, Dr. Virginia Milano, read out the motivation for the Civic Merit to Police Commissioner Spina: “for just one year at the head of the Public Security Authorities of the province of Cosenza, he expressed the highest professional level, through pressing work to combat delinquent phenomena, obtaining results of absolute importance. He has practiced synergy between the police forces and citizens with multiple public initiatives, pursuing the best practices of humanization of the security apparatus, enhancing above all the civic dialogue between institutions and the city’s young people. Cosenza, through Civic Merit, wants to highlight the human and professional example of the recipient as an excellent witness of the democratic functioning of the republican State and Territory”.
Mayor Franz Caruso then expressed the feelings of the deepest gratitude and authentic gratitude for the commitment made by Police Commissioner Spina to serving the community. “This commitment – remarked Franz Caruso – reflects that of the women and men of the State Police, proud of the uniform they wear, which Commissioner Spina directed admirably and in a commendable way, in this short but very intense period of stay in Cosenza”. Some significant moments of the collaboration established with the municipal institution were also remembered, such as the “This is not love” initiative which saw the State Police camper hosted in Piazza dei Bruzi, the fulcrum of the traveling campaign aimed at creating direct contact between women victims of violence and a multidisciplinary team of specialized operators, ready to collect direct testimonies from those who, often out of fear, are reluctant to report or cross the threshold of a police office. Just as “A social life” was remembered, the most important itinerant educational campaign created by the State Police and the Ministry of Education, as part of the “Connected Generations” project aimed at raising awareness and preventing the risks and dangers of the Internet for minors, to stem the spread of the phenomenon of cyberbullying. Then the Mayor closed his speech by referring to the words spoken by Police Commissioner Spina during their first meeting in the Municipality: “I will only be here for one year. It may seem like a short time, but it will be enough to advance legality and justice because my commitment in this sense will be strong, determined and constant.” “Today – concluded Franz Caruso – I feel I must state that Police Commissioner Spina has not only kept his commitment, but has also gone further and the city of Cosenza has the honor of counting him from today among its dearest and most closer. Thank you, Mr. Police Commissioner, we will not forget you and, whenever you want, the doors of our Municipality will always be open and ready to welcome you, because you are one of us”. After the Mayor, the President of the Municipal Council Giuseppe Mazzuca spoke, for whom Police Commissioner Spina “is a man of the State, a valid investigator and a respectable person, who has entered the hearts of all the people of Cosenza”, and the Prefect of Cosenza Vittoria Ciaramella who defined the collaborative relationship established with the Police Commissioner as “precious” also for his “empathy and cultural liveliness”. Visibly moved, the Police Commissioner Michele Maria Spina thanked the Mayor Franz Caruso, the Municipal Council and the Municipal Council for the award of the Civic Merit. “I was surprised – he said – because I didn’t expect it and I am deeply honoured”. With reference to the passion that has always characterized his work, Commissioner Spina added: “it is as if the fibers of the State Police had become inextricably intertwined with my cells”. And he concluded his speech by thanking “all the policemen and women of the city, of the province of Cosenza, but also of all the places where I have been, working with them side by side and without whom no result would have been possible ”. At the end of the ceremony, other significant expressions of appreciation for the synergy established during this year of the Police Commissioner Michele Maria Spina’s stay in Cosenza came from the Prosecutor of the Republic of Cosenza, Mario Spagnuolo, from the Provincial Commander of the Carabinieri of Cosenza, Agatino Saverio Spoto and by the provincial commander of the Guardia di Finanza, Giuseppe Dell’Anna.