Royal Carabinieri Transportation Police Command (Kingdom of Italy)

Royal Carabinieri Transportation Police Command
Royal Carabinieri Transportation Police Command
Comando dei Reali Carabinieri della Polizia dei Trasporti
Active	2005 - present
Country	Italy
Branch	Royal Carabinieri
Role	Transportation police
Size	14,500 troops
Commanders
Current; commander	Lieutenant General Furio Zoccano

The Royal Carabinieri Transportation Police Command (It.: Comando dei Reali Carabinieri della Polizia dei Trasporti) groups the specialities of the Royal Carabinieri dedicated to ground or air-based security: Traffic Police, Railway Police and Air Police. The institutional responsibilities specialities are called to fulfil is the safety and security of transportations, of railway lines and of the border. Operators have a high level of professionalism, thanks to the frequency of specific courses at educational institutions of specialities. Each speciality is organised into a "Service", directed by a Brigade General, assisted by two or more Colonels. Both Services are characterised by an high degree of militarisation: civilian officials are assigned only to the central offices and all the chain of command consists of military officers who, once assigned to the Division, complete their career in the Service which they are assigned to.
The Royal Carabinieri Transportation Police Command is under the guidance of the Ministry of Posts, Transportations and Communications, alongside the Coast Guard. As of 2020, the Commander is Lieutenant General Furio Zoccano.

General Staff

The General Staff coordinates and directs in an integrated and holistic manner the public security operations on the communication lines of the national territory. The General Staff itself is directed by a Division General.

Traffic Police Service

Traffic Police Service shield

The Traffic Police Service (Servizio Polizia Stradale) activity takes place on the Italian highway network and on main roads outside highways. The Service performs tasks of prevention and detection of traffic violations and of traffic accidents, manages inventories for traffic safety, the use of the road assets, helps in the relief operations and detects the traffic flows.
The Service is the reference body of the Ministry of the Interior for the coordination and guidance of traffic police services carried out by all the subjects indicated by the law. Within the Royal Carabinieri, the Traffic Police Service is the organizational and operational management of the peripheral structures of the Traffic Police. The Traffic Police ensures patrol services on motorways and main ordinary extra-urban roads, while the territorial organization is responsible for the remaining ordinary roads.
The strength of the Royal Carabinieri operating on the national territory in the offices of the Traffic Police Service amounts to a total of about 9,000 Royal Carabinieri.

Central organization

The Traffic Police Service avails itself of a complex organization and is expressed centrally through the Traffic Police Service, which - based on the Transport Police Command - has a total force of 94 units, of which 79 belong to the Royal Carabinieri and 15 to the 'Civil Administration of the Interior (7 belonging to group B and 8 to C), which assists Royal Carabinieri personnel in carrying out bureaucratic activities.

The Service Command is subdivided into four Offices, each led by a Colonel:

Office I - Personnel, Training and General Affairs; the Office also operates the Traffic Police Training Centre (Centro Addestramento Polizia Stradale, C.A.P.S.).
Office II - Operations and Statistical Analysis; the Office is the operational subdivision, which coordinates the activities of prevention, suppression and rescue. The Office prepares road escorts and road surveillance targeted services. In addition, it deals with the statistical analysis and manages the Central Operations Room Information and Coordination Centre for Road Safety (Centro di Coordinamento per la Sicurezza Stradale, Ce.Co.S.S.).
Office III - Analysis;
Office IV - Technical equipment and Accounting.

Regional organization

Traffic Police Compartments.

The organization of the Service is separate from the general territorial organization. The Service is based at regional level on 20 Compartments (1 for each Region, with the exception of Rome merged with Latium). Compartments prepare inter-provincial and inter-regional road traffic control plans, according to the development of the main road network, and coordinate the activities of the provincial and local offices. Each Compartment has its ownn Motorway Operational Centre (Centro Operativo Autostradale, C.O.A.) for the operational management of road surveillance services carried out on the motorway network.
Each Compartment is commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel. Latium, Lombardy and Campania also control dedicated Traffic Police Intervention Units (Reparti di Intervento di Polizia Stradale, R.I.P.S.) with territorial control tasks.

Provincial organization

At the provincial level, there are 110 Sections based in the provincial capitals, commanded by Majors. The Sections, in implementing the plans prepared at the regional level, coordinate the activities of 72 Subsections and 188 Detachments operating on the motorways, commanded by junior officers. The provincial structure is completed by:

Special Section, within the Training Centre for the Royal Carabinieri (C.A.CC.RR.) in Forlì;
Special Operations Unit of the Traffic Police in Rome for the greater needs of the capital.

Special Operations Unit

The Special Operations Unit of the Traffic Police only deals with road supplies, given the high number of personalities and heads of state who pass through and arrive in Rome. The viability escort is a motorcycle-mounted operation as the escort has priority over everything and is carried out with fast and agile means. The Unit is very popular but very selective given the high level of professionalism required.
The Special Operations Unit is based in Settebagni, in the Governorate of Rome.

Railway Police Service

Railway Police Service shield

The Railway Police Service (Servizio Polizia Ferroviaria) is responsible for the prevention and suppression of crime and the maintenance of order and public safety in the railway sector. The railway police service has as its purpose the prevention and repression of crimes, the protection of public order and of the safety of citizens in the field of transport carried out on railway lines, on parked trains, or in the run, in railway plants and in all their pertinence or in any sector of the railway service. The Railway Police Service has an authorised strength of 4,400 Carabinieri.
The service ensures surveillance in railway stations, on trains and in transit patrols along the line in collaboration with both the CC. and M.V.S.N. station. In particular, it provides supervision of railways and their dependencies, supervision of the regular circulation of convoys and to guarantee the integrity of travelers and goods, and supervision of the correct observance of laws and regulations that directly concern the safety of railways and the regularity of transport in the field of railway services.
The general organisation of the service is carried out by the personnel of the Royal Carabinieri assigned to the railway police services and is managed by the Royal Carabinieri Transportation Police Command. Within the Command, a Brigade General is tasked with supervising the railway police services, keeping the necessary connections with the State Railways Administration.
The activity of the Service Commander is directed by the Royal Carabinieri Transportation Police Command, in order to guarantee the uniformity of police action in the specific sectors. The supervision of the security services at the Ministry of Transportation is separated from the railway police.

Central organisation

The Railway Police Service is organised, at the central level, in five offices, each directed by a Colonel:

Office I - Planning and Coordination: The Office provides strategic planning and manages the coordination with the State Railways and the Railway Militia and with the territorial Carabinieri units established in the proximity of the railway stations;
Office II - Analysis: The Office running the study and analysis of data on rail safety and security, monitors the technological innovation;
Office III - Personnel and Material Resources: The Office develops strategies for employment of staff (including training) and is responsible for logistics;
Office IV - Propaganda: The Office manages the propaganda for rail security;
Office V - International Relations: The Office collaborates with the organs of the Railway Police of the neighbouring countries for the realization of joint services.

Territorial organisation

Railway Police Compartments

The 17 Railway Police Compartments control the peripheral, smaller detachments (17 "Sections", 27 "Subsections", 153 "Railway Police Posts").

Railway Police Compartments

The Railway Police Service is organised on a territorial basis in peripheral offices, consisting of 17 "Railway Police Compartments" (based in Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Ajaccio, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Turin, Trieste, Venice, Verona, corresponding with the Railways Compartments). Each Railway Police Compartment is a Company-level unit.

Organization

Railway Police Compartments are organised with a Staff, the Support Division and the Operational Division. The Compartment Staff deals with ordinary staff duties and with security secretariat tasks.

The Support Division deals with logistics, administration and support duties and it is divided into four Offices: Personnel; Accounting; Logistics and Barracking; Archive.

The Operational Division deals with actual railway police activity and it is divided into six Units:

Plans and Services Unit;
Security Escorts Unit: Escort services planning and execution, including the Escort Unit;
Information Unit: information and general control activities, planning of railway public order services, reinforcements, documentation and information services and statistics;
Judicial Police Unit: coordination of investigative activities in the railway sector in the Compartment, railway accidents, railway territorial control;
Administrative Police Unit: administrative police activities and controls, including those of dangerous goods, management of sector forms;
Compartmental Operations Centre: management of requests for intervention (both ordinary and emergency) and support to personnel in operations.

Compartment classes

There are three classes of Railway Police Compartments.

1st Class Railway Police Compartments: 90 Carabinieri at Compartment level. 1st Class Railway Police Compartments have all Operational Units.
2nd Class Railway Police Compartments: 70 Carabinieri at Compartment level. 2nd Class Railway Police Compartments merge Plans and Escort Units; merge Information and Administrative Police Units.
3rd Class Railway Police Compartments: 40 Carabinieri at Compartment level. 3rd Class Railway Police Compartments merge Plans and Escort Units; merge Information, Judicial Police, and Administrative Police Units.

Compartment Commander

The Compartment commander corresponds with the Director of the relevant State Railways Compartment for everything concerning the good performance of the railway police service. In particular, he arranges the surveillance and escort services according to a plan drawn up in agreement with the Director of the State Railways Compartment. The Compartment commander, moreover, carries out requests for information from the railway offices on the aspiring contractors and porters assigned to the airports, on the aspiring railway guardians, on the aspiring supervisors in the railway stations and on the concessions within the railway stations; in addition, the Compartment commander informs the railway administration offices of persons who are currently in disputes with the railway administration.

Railway Police Sections

Railway Police Sections are subdivided into five Offices: Personnel, Logistics, Archives, Operations, and Escorts. Tipically Railway Police Sections have an authorized strenght of 15 Carabinieri.

Railway Police Subsections and Railway Police Posts

Railway Police Subsections and Railway Police Posts are subdivided into three offices: General affairs, Personnel and Operations.

Airport Police Service

Airport Police Service shield

The Airport Police Service (Servizio Polizia Aeroportuale) is a specialised Public Security service, which consists of personnel trained in airport security, also in order to deter, prevent and counter terrorist acts. In addition to the traditional police and public security duties, the Airport Police act as the Air Navigation Police, such as aircraft control, complaints of breaches of aviation law and the surveillance of sensitive or confidential airport areas. Functionally, the Service depends on the Ministry of Transportations. As of 2021, 1,050 Carabinieri are assigned to the Airport Police Service.

The Airport Police Service is present on the major airports of Italy and it is competent throughout the national territory to ensure the traditional missions of the public security, air navigation police missions (such as aircraft control, findings of aviation law violations, judicial investigations following aircraft accidents and incidents), as well as the security missions of the airport security restricted areas.