Provincial Command of the Royal Carabinieri (Kingdom of Italy)
In the Kingdom of Italy, the Provincial Command of the Royal Carabinieri is both a territorial command of the Royal Carabinieri, reporting to the Commandant-General of the Royal Carabinieri, and an office of the Directorate-General of Public Security with provincial jurisdiction, reporting to the Ministry of the Interior through the Chief of Police of the Kingdom of Italy. It is led by a Provincial Commander of the Royal Carabinieri. Within the Royal Carabinieri, the Provincial Command is tasked with the direct execution and performance of police and security services. Every Provincial Command has its seat in the capital city of the province, depending on the relevant Prefect.
Finally, each Provincial Command reports, for both preventive and repressive military police duties, to the relevant Army District Command, although it is not part of the Army.
Provincial Commander
The Provincial Commander (Italian: Comandante Provinciale) is a military officer of the Royal Carabinieri who, within a Province, hierarchically and functionally dependent on the Prefect, is in charge of the technical direction of police services and public order, and is also invested with specific attributions (issue of certain licenses and authorisations, etc.). The Provincial Commander is a member of the provincial committee for order and public security in his double capacity of Provincial and Local Authority of Public Security (the latter for the provincial capital only).
The Provincial Commander has the role of head of the Provincial Command he directs, having a say in the centrally-directed choice of delicate positions of the relevant Provincial Command, without having to follow an excessively rigid architecture.
The sphere of action of the Provincial Commander concerns prevention and repression of crimes, the guarantee of the fascist order, the provision of aid in the event of public or private accidents. He is also responsible for activities relating to police authorisations, possession of weapons, expatriation and immigration.
Provincial Commanders organise frequent meetings during which the commanders of the Provincial Command and the commanders of the special units which are deployed in the province and are not outside his command analyse the investigative findings and plan joint operational activities.
The 110 Provincial Commands are commanded by an officer ranking from Colonel to Division General. In a medium-sized city there are usually 1,200 to 1,500 Carabinieri, but considerably more in large cities such as Milan or Naples, where there may be as many as 4,000 CC.RR. members and the Commander of the Provincial Command is a Division General. In the Governorate of Rome, when the number of police officers is very high, the commander is a Division General, functionally subordinated to the Latium Legion.
The Provincial Commander is the propulsor, regulator and coordinator of all the activities of the Arma in the province and carries out its directional action in the framework of the superior directives and the particular requirements of the order and public security of the jurisdiction. He is responsible for the functioning and activity of the Arma in the province, and intervenes in the organization of the information service and of preventive surveillance activity.
In the field of judicial police, the Provincial Commander brings his personal contribution for the investigations to be conducted with assiduous commitment: he coordinates the investigations when they extend to the whole territory of jurisdiction and takes over when the exceptional gravity or particular require it. resonance of the crimes occurred. He must also have a profound knowledge of the province so as to be able to report immediately on facts, events and situations of particular importance.
The Provincial Commander inspects the services performed by the subordinate commands as often as possible, maintains relations with the prefect, with the public prosecutor of the Duce-King and with the commander of the garrison.
Provincial Authority of Public Security
Together with the Prefect, the Provincial Commander is one of the two Provincial Authorities of Public Security. The Provincial Commander is the Provincial Authority of Public Security at a technical-operational level.
Provincial Commander orders
The Provincial Commander can issue orders. The Provincial Commander's orders have the characteristic of being strictly typified and strictly addressed to the members of the public security administration only.
Deputy Provincial Commander
The Deputy Provincial Commander (commonly referred to as "Vicar") is the first and direct collaborator of the Provincial Commander, overseeing the numerous offices of the Provincial Command and the most delicate services of public order, he presides over some important work Commissions, such as the Provincial Council for Discipline, the provincial commission for explosive materials and participates in the provincial public show commission. Finally, the Deputy Provincial Commander ensures the replacement of the Provincial Commander in his absences.
The Deputy Provincial Commander ranks immediately below the Provincial Commander: this means that he is an Officer of a grade who goes from Lieutenant to Brigadier General.
As a rule, the officers taking on this role are the closest candidates for promotion to Provincial Commander.
Classification
The Provincial Commands are classified according to an analysis conducted through a method that includes the incidence of measurable variables with quantitative and statistical data and the politically, strategic and subversive sensitivity of the individual site.
- Category - A: Provincial Commands of Rome, Milan and Naples;
- Category - B: 17 Provincial Commands;
- Category - C: 14 Provincial Commands;
- Category - D: 50 Provincial Commands;
- Category - E: 18 Provincial Commands.
Provincial Commands falling within the A Category are in charge of highly sensitive provinces and urban environments. Therefore, each Provincial Command of this category is led by a Provincial Commander ranking Division General and the local Investigative branch is an autonomous Department and consists of 10 Sections.
Provincial Commands within the B Category guard provinces which are sensitive and delicate, although not as sensitive as A Category provinces. These Provincial Commands are led by a Brigade General, but their Investigative branches, while still autonomous Departments, have 8 Sections each.
Provincial Commands of C and D Categories are in charge of generally quiet provinces and both are led by Provincial Commanders ranking Brigade General and both have 5 Sections in their Investigative branches. Category-C Provincial Commands oversee a population greater than the population overseen by Category-D Provincial Commands.
Eventually, Provincial Commands of the E Category are in charge of quiet and peaceful provinces. This tranquillity is met by a Provincial Commander ranking Colonel or, in some limited cases, ranking Brigade General (but newly appointed). Their Investigative branches have 4 Sections each. The class-E Provincial Commands have an organic layout of a minimum of 172 Carabinieri (without taking in account subordinated Companies). This staff is made up of the Provincial Commander, 9 Officers and 162 Carabinieri and Subofficers, as well as 1 Medical Officer and 1 Medical Subofficer.
General organisation
The offices of the Provincial Command are divided into three functional areas: the first (Command office) deals to coordination and direction services, as well as services more directly aimed at the maintenance of public order, the second (Operational Department) provides for the prevention, discovery and repression of crime and is maintained for such purposes, in direct contact with the judicial authorities and the third (Administrative police office) exercises functions of a administrative/preventive nature. Each area, whatever it is named, is directed by a senior Royal Carabinieri officer, usually ranking Lieutenant Colonel.
- Operations Room
- Command Office: the Command Office includes both operational and administrative support offices.
- Operational Department: the Division deals with prevention, discovery, repression activities, police intelligence, patrols and territorial control. It includes Investigation Unit (akin to the U.K. Criminal Investigations Department), Information Unit, Patrol Car Unit, Section of Judicial Police, Identification Cabinet, Scientific Police Cabinet, Permanent Criminal Records of the judicial police, Identity cards and notifications register and Criminal general archive.
- Administrative and Social police office: administrative police affairs and archives. The Administrative and Social police office includes within its activities the issuance of various permits, such as commercial permits of public security, passports and weapons licenses; within the Office there are also police branches for minors and social policing, as well as Foreigners and Immigrants office.
Provincial capital cities are divided into Sectional Companies. For each Sectional Company is headed by a Captain, assisted by some junior officers. Each Sectional Company has at its disposal a Carabinieri Squad of the Royal Carabinieri.
Command Office
The Command Office (It.: Ufficio Comando) acts as the staff of the Provincial Commander, representing the office charged with putting his directives into practice. The Head of the Command Office is an Officer of absolute trust of the Provincial Commander, given the delicacy of the task; the Command Office consists of subordinate personnel (usually Subofficers).
The Command Office includes both operational police Sections, such as General and Confidential Affairs Section, Public order Section and the Political Section, and administrative support organizations, such as Personnel, Accounting, Safety, Health, Barracking and Equipment Sections. The Command Office includes the archives of the Cabinet, Political Section and Foreigners Surveillance Office and operates the Complaints Office. Sometimes, in major Commands, the Command Office is split between operational police offices, which form the General Affairs Department, and the administrative structures, which remain in the Command Office.
In an A-Category Provincial Commands, the Command Office includes the following subdivisions:
- Commander's Secretariat;
- Antechamber of the Commander;
- General Affairs;
- Complaints;
- Press and Public Relations Section;
- Public Order Section;
- Political Section;
- Archive Section;
- Correspondence Section;
- Foreigners Surveillance Section;
- Control Activity and Deportation Section;
- Secretariat of the Chief of the Command Office;
- Local Police Liaison Section;
- Security Executive Section: responsible for the management of classified documents;
- Operational Section.
Political Section
The Political Section, at the peripheral level, is framed within the Command Office within each Provincial Command. The provincial Political Section is entrusted of a variety of functions, which include the collection of information about the overall situation, including for the prevention of public order breaking, the investigation for the prevention and punishment of crimes against the State and against the public order, politically driven or terrorism offences and crimes.
Each Political Office maintains an its own political archive, which is kept distinct from the general archive. In most Provincial Commands, Political Sections have a physically separate wing dedicated to their own use.
Office of Public Order and Traffic
The Office of Public Order and Traffic (Ufficio per l'Ordine Pubblico e la Circolazione, U.O.Pu.C.) is an office existing only within the Command Office of the Provincial Command of Rome. Strictly related with the Political Section, it is responsible for maintaining public order (festive or political events on the public highway), protecting the headquarters of institutions and diplomatic representations, monitoring compliance with the provisions of the highway code and, in in particular, preventing and combating crime and traffic violence.
Operational Department
The Operational Department (It.: Reparto Operativo) is the Division tasked with conducting investigations and judicial police tasks. The Operational Department is the cornerstone office in small to medium Provincial Commands, while in larger Commands the Operational Department is flanked by the Investigation Department, which is elevated to a full Departmental level.
The Operational Department groups the Patrol Car Unit, the Informmation Unit, the Investigative Unit and the Section of Judicial Police. Territorial Departments also have an Operational Unit (Unità Operativa, Company-level, in turn grouping the Information Section and the Investigative Section). Similarly, Territorial Companies have their own Operational Unit with the Information and Investigative Squads. Within a Provincial Command, the Operational Department is a Battalion-level subdivision. The Operational Depatment is subdivided into four organisations:
- Investigation Unit (Nucleo Investigativo);
- Information Unit (Nucleo Informativo);
- Patrol Car Unit (Nucleo Radiomobile);
- Traffic Platoon;
- Provincial cabinet of Scientific Police;
- Section of Judicial Police (Sezione di Polizia Giudiziaria).
Information Unit
The Information Unit (Nucleo Informativo) is the Company-level subdivision of the Operational Department in charge of obtaining the information necessary for the Carabinieri, also outside the investigation. Everything is aimed at public and political order and security, as well as collaboration with other entities.
Among the missions of the Information Unit there is also the surveillance of the political orientation of the Carabinieri, the aspiring Carabinieri and their relatives. Informaton Units are among the terminals of the Intelligence and Security Organization.
The informers employed by Carabinieri of the Information UNit come from all walks of life in society, both in the sphere of organised crime and in political circles.
Investigation Unit
The Investigation Unit (It: Nucleo Investigativo) is the cornerstone office of Operational Department, tasked with performing investigations duties, also being the provincial coordination unit of the Carabinieri territorial companies. The Investigation Unit is usually headed by a Major, but also by a Lieutenant Colonel in most important cities. The Investigation Unit is the Italian counterpart of British Criminal Investigations Branches and leads investigations to identify those responsible for the crimes and the collection of the relevant sources of evidence. The assigned personnel operate almost exclusively in plain clothes; the activity of the Investigation Unit is solely and exclusively the detective work, which is mainly devoted to law enforcement action, while the prevention activity is normally delegated to other offices. Detective work is carried out making extensive use of information provided by the Information Unit.
It is to note that Investigation Units of the Royal Carabinieri are in charge for the whole Province and act as a direct support for Territorial Companies, including the Company in charge of the provincial capital, which in turn have their own Investigation Sections.
Each Investigation Unit, which is Company-level subdivisions of the Operational Department, is structured around ten Sections, each headed by CC.RR. Captains and specialising in a particular category of offences and in turn it is divided into Squads, headed by a CC.RR. Lieutenants:
- 1st Section: General Affairs: the Section provides intelligence and analysis to the Mobile Squad.
- 2nd Section: Organised Crime (coordinated by the Criminal Police Centres of the Regional Offices of Public Security).
- 3rd Section: Foreign Crime.
- 4th Section: Offences against the person.
- Psychic Crimes and Crisis Squad: this team consisting of police officers and psychiatrists respond to bizarre and frightening crises and solve cases involving emotionally disturbed criminals, victims and/or witnesses.
- Kidnappings Squad.
- 5th Section: Vice.
- Paedophile Squad
- Obscene Publications Squad: the team targets people who manufacture and distribute immoral or obscene material through shops, mail order, complex distribution networks and the Internet.
- Taskable Squad: assists with offences occurring on the street such as kerb crawling, street prostitution.
- 6th Section: Offences against property.
- Robberies Squad.
- 7th Section: Offences against the Public Administration.
- Offences in the sphere of the consumer market and the execution of the administrative law Unit.
- 8th Section: Organised crime.
- 9th Section: Arms, Drug and Narcotics.
- 10th Section: Fugitives.
In smaller Provincial Commands some Sections are merged, while in major cities (A Category) the Investigative Unit is an autonomous Department which operates alongside the Operational Department. In the latter case, the Investigative Department is headed by a Colonel (who is not the deputy of the Provincial Commander) and all subdivisions are one level higher (Sections becoming Units, Squads becoming Sections, etc.). Such modifications are decreed by the Chief of Police upon proposal of the Commandant-General.
Ordinarily, the Squad Head is a CC.RR. junior officer (Second Lieutenant or Lieutenant), while members are CC.RR. enlisted troops or Subofficers.
Provincial cabinets of Scientific Police
The Provincial cabinets of Scientific Police are established in every Questura (with the exception of those where there is already the Inter-provincial Cabinet) and are framed into the Anti-Crime Division. They have specific responsibility to carry out the Inspection of the Scientific Police and photographic identification.
The activity of the provincial cabinets, if necessary, is coordinated by the leaders of Inter-provincial cabinets, which are directly involved in directing the operations of particular gravity.
Patrol Car Unit
The Patrol Car Unit (Nucleo Radiomobile) is a subdivision of the Operational Department, is headed by a Lieutenant or Captain (according to the size of the Provincial Command), and it is present in every Province. The same service performed by Companies is known as as "Patrol Cars" (Autopattuglie). Patrol Cars Units are in direct contact with citizens in the cities; directed by radio from the Operations Room of their Command, the patrol cars get involved to any request for assistance received by the public emergency number 111. For this reason, the operators of the patrol car and the radio car must be able to face any type of intervention.
For each turn there are four or more patrol cars, depending on the city/town size; each patrol car is assigned a specific and precise area to be covered. Each turn is headed by a coordinating Marshal of P.S., who is responsible for the entire turn: he, at the beginning of turn, decides crews, sectors to assign and what patrol cars which have to carry out the services other than emergency (fixed surveillance, picketing, treatments of arrested/stopped people, etc..). The Patrol Cars, in addition to the repression service, also are entrusted of prevention service. The police patrol crews, who know their area of jurisdiction and the people who habitually frequents, observe carefully what is around them while patrolling the area, and this observation allows both to intervene promptly in case of need and to deter potential attackers.
Special Patrol
The Special Patrol (Italian: Pattuglia Speciale, informally Pattuglione) is a police patrol organised and executed for the specific needs of territorial control. Usually the "Pattuglione" is composed of a team of 10 to 15 agents on four or five cars. Such patrols can be arranged for the most different purposes: a type that is performed regularly, especially during the most unstable, is the patrol of the Political Office. Each patrol is coordinated by a Public Security Official, while on the field agents are controlled and commanded by a Subofficer; personnel may be drawn from the P.S., Local Police and MVSN. Special Patrols are conducted by an evident uniformed patrol, which is assisted by plain-clothes personnel.
Traffic Platoon
A Carabinieri Traffic Platoon (Plotone Stradale Carabinieri, PSC) is a subunit of the Patrol Car Unit of the Royal Carabinieri whose primary mission is road safety. Each of the provincial commands has a Traffic Platoon which brings together all the road units of the province. Group Commands have their own Company.
The Traffic Pltaoons can put their particular capacities in reinforcement or support of the units of the Royal Carabinieri. These missions are exercised more mainly on the main roads, in support of Royal Carabinieri units in operations and for the military missions assigned to them: convoy escorts and military authorities, military traffic control, route markings (in addition to or instead of Army units). Traffic Platoons personnel can go abroad for civilian and military missions based on their skills in road safety. In wartime on the territory, the Traffic Companies are responsible for defence road traffic.
The Carabinieri Traffic Pltaoon is made up of a command squad and specialized units with skills that vary according to the characteristics of the road network:
- Motorized Squads: made up of motorcycles, typically based in the provincial capital;
- Mobile Squads: made up of both motorcycles and cars, typically under the Territorial Companies or Departments.
The command squad is located in the chief town of the Province. The officer placed at its head directs and coordinates the subordinate units. He is also the technical adviser to the Provincial Commander. Individual Squads and Platoons are organically assigned to the relevant territorial detachment, and under the professional guidance of the province-level Platoon.
Quick Reaction Operational Units
Quick Reaction Operational Units (It.: Unità Operative di Pronto Impiego, U.O.P.I.) are Carabinieri special teams, whose main mission is to patrol places of worship, art and culture potentially at risk of attacks, as well as to provide support to the Political Office and to the Investigative Unit for high-risk searches and arrests. The service provided is essentially preventive in nature, but also involves the repressive-reaction part. Agents, which move aboard armoured vehicles, are trained to take action first in case of terrorist attacks, without fixed locations but being moved from time to time by the police to oversee the objectives deemed sensitive. They are also trained to disarm people potentially hostile or dangerous people. Agents are equipped with bulletproof vests, body armours, helmets, high-definition cameras, assault rifles, submachine guns, light weapons and pepper spray.
The team consists of a dozen men, belonging to the local Provincial Command, carefully selected and trained by the Special Intervention Group, the Royal Carabinieri national emergency and counterterrorism unit. The patrols are composed of four agents.
The anti-terrorist squad is present in some Provincial Commands: Padua, Venice, Verona, Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence, Turin, Genoa, Modena, Ancona, Bari, Brindisi, Prato, Bolzano, Taranto, Lecce, Trieste. Agents of U.O.P.I. are chosen on a voluntary basis between the younger personnel (up to 30 years of age) in each province; in the provinces where there is a Carabinieri Battalion, the selection is also open to the agents employed by the Carabinieri Battalion itself. The selection criteria are very strict.
Section of Judicial Police
In addition to the Magistrates and Administrative personnel, a Judicial Police Section is set up at each Prosecutor of the Duce's Office, made up of personnel belonging to the various Police Forces.
The Agents and Officers of Judicial Police who belong to the section are the permanent, direct and functional dependence of the Public Prosecutor - who directs the section and coordinates its activity - and carry out all the activities for him and for the magistrates of the Public Prosecutor's Office. in turn delegates them. The members of the section may not be deterred from the judicial police activity except in exceptional cases and by order or with the consent of the Public Prosecutor.
Administrative and Social police Office
The Administrative and Social police Office (It.: Ufficio Polizia Amministrativa e Sociale, U.P.A.S.) deals with police affairs and administrative archives. The U.P.A.S. includes within its activities the issuance of various permits, such as commercial permits of public security, passports and weapons licenses; within the Division there are also police offices for minors and social policing, as well as Foreigners and Immigrants office. This U.P.A.S. is the real instrument of control, through which the Provincial Command manages to exercise a power of blackmail and surveillance on the territory.
An ordinary Provincial Command has fourteen subdivisions within the Administrative and Social Police Office:
- Section I - Weapons and carrying weapons;
- Section II - Police licenses pertaining to gambling and betting;
- Section III - Food and beverages licenses;
- Section IV - Licensing leisure places;
- Section V - Public Security Authorisations for Commercial activities;
- Section VI - Passports;
- Section VII - Pyrotechnics;
- Section VIII - Immigration;
- Deportation Squad;
- Refugees Squad;
- Section IX - Explosives;
- Section X - Armouries;
- Section XI - Commercial flights and UAVs;
- Section XII - Foreigners Surveillance: this Office is always present in every Questura;
- Section XIII - Minors and Moral education: the Section provides information and support on prevention initiatives and works with the relevant child protection authorities such as O.M.N.I., education and Party organizations. The Office is often the point of entry of information related to difficult situations.
- Control Activity Section: the operational arm of the Office.
Any variation of the organisation of the individual Provincial Command is decided by the Chief of Police.
Section XIII - Minors and Moral education
Section XIII - Minors and Moral education (Sezione XIII - Minori ed Educazione Morale) is part of the Administrative and Social police Office, with the aim of providing support to children in difficulty and their families. At this office, qualified personnel work to listen to children, perpetrators or victims of crimes. The Minors Section operates as a hub, bringing together personnel of the Administrative and Social Police Division, social services operators and other expertise, liaising with private foundations, but also with the collaboration of the Italian Youth of the Lictor, the O.N.M.I. and schools.
Specifically, the Minors Office deals with the abandonment of minors, pornography and child prostitution, the illegal use of child labour, sexual abuse of minors, the use or sale of drugs and ill-treatment.
General Affairs Department
The General Affairs Department (It.: Reparto Affari Genrali) is the subdivision which includes all administrative and support offices. The General Affairs Department is distinct from the Command Office only in the main Provincial Commands (Rome, Milan, Naples). In B to E Category Questure the General Affairs Department is merged with Command Office. The General Affairs Department includes:
- Civilian personnel Office;
- IT Office;
- Purchasing Office;
- Housing Office;
- Accounting Office.
Personnel accomodations
Individual service accommodation free of charge in the Provincial Headquarters is granted to the Royal Carabinieri who carry out the tasks indicated below:
- Provincial Commander;
- Provincial Deputy Commander;
- Commander of the Command Office;
- Commander of the Operational Department;
- Commander of the Administrative and Social Police Office;
- Officers in charge of provincial-level judicial police services;
- Officers in charge officials in charge of the following offices: personnel office, Health Section, health office, section of the Political Office, section of the Investigative Unit;
- personnel assigned to other offices or minor organic units and personnel assigned in a number not exceeding 7 percent of the organic force and in any case not exceeding forty units for each of the Provincial Commands of category C, D, E, or to eighty units for each of the Provincial Commands of categories A and B.
Heraldry
The Provincial Command of the Royal Carabinieri is considered an autonomous Military Corps and, therefore, the Provincial Commander is Corps Commander.
From a ceremonial, symbological and heraldic point of view, each Provincial Command is considered to be equivalent to a Regiment, regardless of its actual size and organization. As a Regiment, the Provincial Command has its own coat of arms. This heraldic coat of arms is equivalent to the regimental coat of arms of the other Carabinieri Regiments but follows particular composition rules:
- the heraldic Chief is always red (gules) instead of black (sable);
- the heraldic Chief is charged with the coat of arms of the Royal Carabinieri instead of the Flaming Grenade;
- the coat of arms of either the Province or the provincial capital is displayd under the heraldic Chief;
- the supporters of the heraldic coat of arms are two fasces;
- the heraldic motto is usually omitted, unless it has been granted by the Duce.