Royal Carabinieri Border Police Command (Kingdom of Italy)
| Royal Carabinieri Border Police Command | |
|---|---|
| Comando Carabinieri Reali per la Polizia di Frontiera | |
 | |
| Country |  Italy |
| Branch |  Royal Carabinieri |
| Role | Border police |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Army Corps General Pietro Ruffolo |
The Royal Carabinieri Border Police Command (Comando Carabinieri Reali per la Polizia di Frontiera) is tasked with securing and protecting Italy's international borders from unlawful entry of both personnel and materiel. Key tasks include: fixed-point surveillance from border forts and annexes; security patrolling between fixed sites and ports of entry; interdiction of personnel, goods, and equipment in the international border regions and the coastal area; and detention, processing, and exploitation of dissidents and contraband. The Division is organised into 10 Border Police Regions and is the body responsible for all the management of the activities related to land and sea borders protection, in cooperation with the M.V.S.N., the Royal Guard of Finance and the Navy (Coast Guard). Current Head of Division is Army Corps General Pietro Ruffolo.
Execution of Border police services
Border police are divided into ground, sea and air border police services. The border police serivce is carried out:
- By the Royal Carabinieri at airport, seaport, railway and highway accesses, as well as at border accesses in provincial capitals and in Municipalities where it exists a Company Command;
- By the Coast Guard under the guidelines of the Royal Carabinieri Border Police Command;
- By the M.V.S.N. (all branches) as support to Coast Guard, and Royal Carabinieri. Usually an O.V.R.A. officer is stationed at Companies located at the border. It is not uncommon for contingents of the 4th "M" Regiment of the Italian National Royal Guard to be deployed at M.V.S.N. commands of the Italian-French border in support to M.V.S.N. Provincial Legions, while Border Militia detachments on the Eastern Border usually do not receive G.N.R. reinforcements (also due to the more intense presence of the regular military).
The Royal Guard of Finance provide specialised personnel in order to deal with custom duties, but also for additional surveillance.
Central organisation
The Royal Carabinieri Border Police Command is subdivided into three Sections: General Affairs, Borders and Immigration contrast.
- Section I - General and legal affairs: the Section deals with the planning and planning of objectives, the management of personnel and means, the collection and processing of data relating to immigration, the issuance of passports. The Section is divided into three Offices: legal affairs office, organisation office, accounting office.
- Section II - Borders: the Section is the element tasked with the management of 53 air, sea and land ports of entry within Italy, responsible for securing ports of entry from internal and external threats and for coordinating Ministerial support to the land points of Entry. The Section manages 18 Border Police Sectors (responsible for land ports, airports and land accesses), 15 Border Police Offices at sea ports, 20 Border Police Offices at airports and 12 Border Police Offices at integrated air and seaports. This Section does not have authority over the numerous tenant ministry organisations located at each of the ports. In some cases, there can be up to 10 different ministries working at a land port, making coordination and efficient port operation quite difficult and the Prefect's activity is under pressure. Section II - Borders liasies with the Coast Guard for maritime border security tasks.
- Section II - Immigration contrast: the Section deals with immigration contrast and the police cooperation, both at the international and at the Empire level. The Section is divided into four Offices: Immigration Contrast and Foreigners without Permits Office; Sea contrast and Liaison Officers Office (in liaisson with the Coast Guard); International and Empire Relationships Office; Stay Permits and Immigration Offices Coordination Office. The Section deals with Division III - Imperial Borders and Internal and Authorised Migration of the Directorate-General for Public Security of the Italian Empire.
Ground Border Police Service
The Ground Border Police Service (Servizio di Polizia di Frontiera Terrestre) is carried out by the following offices:
- Zone Offices;
- Sector offices;
- Fixed posts.
The Zones are determined by the border section corresponding to each of the four neighboring States. The Zone offices are:
- I Zone - "France" - based in Turin;
- II Zone - "Switzerland" - based in Como;
- III Zone - "Germany" - based in Bolzano;
- IV Zone - "Yugoslavia" - based in Trieste.
An officer with the rank of Brigade General is in charge of each Zone. He directs the action of the dependent Sectors and supervises the good performance of the operations, gives the special service rules (also in harmony with the local Prefects and territorial military commanders), reports monthly to the Minister of the Interior, communicates to the territorial military commander all news or information of military interest, directs personnel and exercises disciplinary power.
Sectors include one or more road crossings, railways or lake landings authorised to transit, and one or more non-authorised crossings or one or more crossings reserved for persons provided with a special pass. The Sector Office is headed by a Colonel. Where no appropriate public security offices are set up, the local Questura or the Carabinieri Company perform the functions of Sector Office. There are 18 Border Police Ground Sector Offices. The Sector Office performs the service of the border crossing point to which it is assigned, supervises the functioning of the crossings included in the Sector, directs and supervises the activity of the supervisory posts of the various police bodies. The the GRdF and the M.V.S.N. contribute to the completion of border services with fixed places.
The Carabinieri, through their ordinary territorial organisation, also supervise the area of the territory behind the frontier, with particular attention to towns and villages near the border.
Maritime border police services
In major ports there is a Seaport Border Police Office. The Seaport Border Police Office provides the border police services, reporting directly to the Minister the most important incidents, and to the local Questura for the facts that may have an impact on the public order and security. The Seaport Border Office maintains relations with the Coast Guard and the Port Captaincy, and helps to ensure compliance with the instructions given by the Port Commander and the other authorities, provides for all tasks of public order and security, depending on the provincial authority of public security and contributes to ensuring the protection of the maritime domain.
Personnel of the Royal Carabinieri depends on the relevant Provincial Command. The G.R.d.F. contributes to border police services during normal service activities. Currently, there are 15 Seaport Border Police Offices.
Equally important to prevent and repress clandestine entry of people it is the action carried out along the "open" maritime border. In fact, the control device at the land borders is further supplemented by specific surveillance plans at sea and on the coasts that see the participation of the Public Security Administration, the Coast Guard and the Navy, engaged with men and vehicles in contrasting the immigration.
Airport border police services
In the main civilian airports of the State, used permanently to the traffic of people and goods, the air border police service is carried out by an Airport Border Police Office. The Office is in charge of the border police. There are 20 Airport Border Police Offices; at other airports and airfields, border police functions are entrusted to the local Provincal Command.
The Office provides the border police, communicating to the Minister the most significant incidents and to the competent local police offices of the facts that may relate to the order and public security and maintains relations with the direction of the airport regarding the border police.
Specialised Units for Sensitive Flights Security
The Specialised Units for Sensitive Flights Security (Unità Specializzate Sicurezza Voli Sensibili, U.S.Si.Vo.S.) are two units part of the Border Police Offices at the Roma-Fiumicino and Milano-Malpensa Airports, which deal exclusively with airport security services in the areas used for check-in and flight boarding. They target flights heading to countries considered to be at high risk of a terrorist attack, such as the United States of America and Israel.
The specialised units are based at the Fiumicino airport (Rome) and the Malpensa airport (Milan). This Unit is placed in the organisation chart of the Border Police Office (within the Prevention and Security Sector), generally headed by a Captain or Lieutenant.
Territorial organisation
On the ground, the Border Police is subdivided into:
- 18 Border Police Ground Sectors (ground-based entry points);
- 15 Seaport Border Police Offices;
- 20 Airport Border Police Offices;
- 12 Border Police Offices at integrated air and seaports.