The session of the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Security dedicated to the intensification of surveillance and control activities during the now upcoming holiday period, chaired by Prefect Rosa Maria Padovano, has just ended. The meeting was attended by the Mayor of the capital, the President of the Province, the Police Commissioner, the Provincial Commanders of the Carabinieri and the Financial Police, the Provincial Commander of the Fire Brigade, the Commander of the Traffic Police Section, the Managers of the Railway Police and Postal Police Departments and the Director of the Emergency Medical Health Service.
The measurements
The Christmas and New Year holidays are characterized, as usual, by a greater movement of people and by the organization of public and private events closely linked to the particular holiday period. Hence the need to identify all the necessary measures to guarantee the carrying out of recreational-commercial activities in a security framework and the orderly carrying out of related initiatives, through a planning action in very close contact with the top management of the territorial police forces.
Particular attention was paid to the now traditional Christmas Eve nightlife, characterized by large youth participation, with gatherings near public establishments serving drinks and food. Further particular attention was paid to the phenomenon of the illicit marketing of pyrotechnic products, given the considerable increase in demand in the period in question, increasing control actions, also through the activation of the Municipal Police for their contribution, resorting to all the necessary interventions for the timely elimination of illicitly placed materials from the market.
Road surveillance
The particularity of the period also implied the agreed commitment to strengthen supervision on the roads and the prevention and repression of violations of the rules of driving behavior, measures already the subject of an agreement at the Road Operational Committee in the session of 17 December last. In particular, the Provincial and Municipal Police have been adequately activated for the services of specific competence, dedicating particular attention to the high accident rate that characterizes the road system of the inhabited centers and directly taking care of the detection of any road accidents without diverting the Police Forces from the control of the territory. The latter, moreover, will be particularly involved in monitoring motorways and main arteries, making use of instruments suitable for detecting the blood alcohol level and the effect of narcotic substances.
Furthermore, in view of the foreseeable increase in tourist flow, observation and safety services have been set up on motorways and main roads, without neglecting secondary ones which are still affected by traditional religious ceremonies. A further, particular commitment in preventive terms was also requested from the bodies owning the road infrastructures, for optimal maintenance and adequate signage, as well as from the institutional subjects involved in rescue, with particular reference to the Fire Brigade and SUEM 118.
Enhanced security
Finally, and in ways that do not impact the festive setting of the period, equal preventive security attention has been allocated – especially in consideration of the current international context – to the institutional objectives and symbols of Christianity. However, it is important to reiterate that the success of the public order and safety provisions established also pass through the maximum collaboration of the citizens, which is hoped for with confident expectation, in the awareness that respect for norms and rules represent the best guarantee for a festive period characterized by serenity and in a safe framework.