Italy: Investigation into abuses by civilian "volunteers"
01 January 2007
Investigations into incidents during a demonstration in Bologna against the war in Iraq on 2 June 2004, when scuffles broke out between men manning a police cordon and activists trying to climb over barriers separating them from a military parade to celebrate the anniversary of the Republic leading to seven demonstrators initially being accused of resisting public officers, uncovered the active participation of self-styled security guards in public order operations. When the assistant prosecutor in charge of the case, Morena Plazzi, sought to identify police officers against whom activists offered resistance, he discovered they were private individuals from a vigilante group. They wore badges resembling those of police officers and black gloves. The case against the demonstrators was subsequently shelved, and inquiries opened into possible offences of violence, bodily harm, usurping public functions and contravening the Pisanu law that forbids the use of identification symbols imitating those used by the police. The law was aimed at vigilante groups which targeted migrants and drug dealers.
Six people had their houses searched in May 2006, and a second round of searches took place on 31 January 2007, targeting a further six suspects, four of them members of the
Corpo della pattuglie cittadine (citizens' patrol corps) and two from the
Associazione volontari di polizia locale (association of local police volunteers) in Castelmaggiore. This incident was not isolated, as self-styled security officers were also present at a demonstration in May 2004 and during a demonstration against arrests that following the eviction of squatters in 2005. A number of Digos (police special operations unit) officers noted the presence of unidentified individuals, reporting it to the questura (police headquarters) in Bologna. It has surfaced that an agreement involving public funding had been in place between the previous city council administration (in force until 2004) and these associations of "hobby bobbies", and that they continue to receive public funding. Bologna mayor Sergio Cofferati said that he would await the end of judicial proceedings before taking any action.
During the searches, material found included reports of their activities, mainly targeting "illegal" migrants and drug dealers, to be submitted to the police. The official and unofficial relations between police authorities and would-be civilian security agents were such that, on 22 March 2006, Bologna police official Maurizio Mobilio, in charge of flying squads, issued a circular letter inviting officers "not to accept any offers of cooperation" from outsiders and "not to receive any written communications". Bologna police chief Francesco Cirillo said that an internal investigation had been started to ascertain whether anyone "consciously made use of the cooperation of patrol members, or [there was] anyone who saw them in action preferring to pretend not to see". Interior Minister, Giuliano Amato, was already aware of the problem, having instructed the ministry's public security department for a report about the activities of "informal" patrols, particularly in relation to "immigrant hunts", in Padua, Treviso, Trieste and Bologna. A circular order issued by then interior minister Giorgio Napolitano to head police officers nationwide in 1996 warned against cooperation with:
businesses that, without any kind of police title, carry out particular surveillance services that consist in indicating situations of potential risk to the police forces by radio, using personnel that does not possess the qualification as a sworn guard
One of those who had their houses searched on 31 January 2007, had previous form, having fired a shot into the air in 1998 as he sought to catch a drug dealer. The evidence discovered by police reportedly included truncheons, knuckle-dusters, handcuffs, radios that could be used to listen to police communications, as well a