Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Italian Police Long Known As Among Europe’s Coolest, Now Also Being Remarked Upon As…
Posted by Peter Quennell
Among its very kindest.
It’s tough right now for Italian cops, going up against the rioting crowds and the illegal immigrants and the three mafias. But with their sustained pressure the mafias are fading, and the riots and immigrants may dwindle soon if and when light appears at the end of the economic tunnel.
And those images are not what Italian police are best known for.
Above all else, they are cool. They officially work hard at being cool and high-profile and rather colorful, which is perhaps one reason why the Italian prison population is so very low. Their regular uniforms and their ceremonial uniforms tend to be eye-catching, and sometimes resplendent, and unless you’re Mr Berlusconi, their manner tends toward firm but agreeable, and sometimes quite funny. .
One can be doing 100 mph on an autostrada and a car will come by at 140 mph, with a police car on its tail which can exceed 200 mph. The second to last image below (above the… enough said) is of a Bugatti Veyron, which even in standard mode is powered by an engine of 1000 horsepower and has been clocked at close to 250 mph. (It also costs close to $2 million to private buyers.)
Now here is a report by John Hopper in the UK Guardian on the Italian police’s frequent warm side, and there are similar tales about the polizei on quite a few English-language and Italian blogs.
The financial crisis in Europe may have brought out the worst in certain bankers, but it seems to be bringing out the best in Italy’s police.
On Tuesday, and for the second time in less than a month, officers called to deal with a shoplifter were reported to have taken pity on the alleged thief and paid for the goods out of their own pockets.
The latest case arose when staff at a supermarket on the outskirts of Siena, in Tuscany, alerted police to a suspected robbery. The officers found a 27-year-old Egyptian and his 19-year-old brother who had apparently failed to pay for goods they had removed from the shop.
The police established that the older of the two was unemployed and had a wife and two children. Along with some pasta, he and his brother were found to have taken only milk, nappies and baby food. At this point, according to Corriere Fiorentino, the officers opened their wallets and paid the bill.
A similar gesture prompted a round of applause from shoppers at a supermarket in Milan after a 76-year-old pensioner, identified only as Angela, was found to have passed through the checkout without paying for a box of Tic Tac sweets worth 60p.
Sergeant Arturo Scungio said he and his patrol partner had caught up with the suspect near the shop. “She was trembling like a leaf and was clearly frightened by the uniform. From the way she was dressed, I realised she was not well off, that she was one of those who have difficulty making it to the end of the month. I told her what the law was and then I asked her how much pension she received.”
The old lady said that she was on €320 (£255) a month, adding: “I’ve always paid my taxes.” Scungio said that by the time they returned to the supermarket checkout, she was in tears.
The manager told them he did not intend to press charges. “I opened my wallet and paid the 78 cents owed for the Tic Tacs,” Scungio said.
Those humorless sad sacks who have attached themselves to Amanda Knox like leeches… Pity they’re so blinded to Italy’s rather cool reality.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/26/12 at 09:48 PM in The officially involved, Police and CSI, The wider contexts, Italian context
Comments
Police: the ultimate occupation when it comes to valor and courage. The most noble profession in the world.
These guys are heroes. When I read Frank Sfarzo’s blistering attacks on them and Mignini it shows how basically depraved and insubordinate are the personalities outraged by peacekeepers. They want the guilty to run free. Funny how troublemakers hate police and judges.
One US policeman’s words: “I wake up to put on 38 pounds of equipment every morning and leave the house not knowing if I’ll make it home to see my wife and kids.”
Good policemen go into law enforcement to help people and catch criminals. This ideal is soon tested by the hours of boredom that surveillance involves, hours of paperwork, and the pain of seeing how violence affects humans at close range.
How Steve Moore and Michelle Moore can earn a living for years in the FBI and then turn around and attack other police officers who are still on the frontline of crime fighting, requires a strange capitulation to the dark side. Maybe they learned this cynical philosophy from a young druggie from Seattle. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. They fell into her trap pronto. Trickster Sfarzo is not worthy to wipe an honest Italian policeman’s boots.
Do they like their idol’s horror script for the H.O.T. video? Michelle is a fan of the band. Music and Southpark say a lot about a person. Yelling at judges in courtrooms does, too. Maybe like her idol she wants to upstage her authority figures.
What a relief to turn from that macabre club of schizo nuts to the true heroes shown here in dignity.
Posted by Hopeful on 06/28/12 at 02:53 AM | #
Thanks Hopeful. Deserved kind words on important officials who take their professions very seriously. (Ask Vanessa Sollecito who was devastated to lose her Carabineri job.)
We have posted quite a few images of the large and serious police and prosecution crime scene presences that have swung into action after various crimes. See these for example.
http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C482/
The Machine posted on how the FBI and the Scientific Police, the Italian counterpart to the FBI, have an excellent relationship and work together on training and crimes and even exchange professionals.
http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/beyond_massei_on_the
Italian police cooperate in many ways with police throughout the US and are always respected. They nabbed fugitive swindler Dr Mark Weinberge (hiding out in the Alps) and returned him to the US.
Steve Moore has never released his resume and seems to be hiding a mediocre career in the FBI (he was not mainly occupied with murder investigations or with steering murder cases through court) and at Pepperdine University he seems to have developed a case of Security Guard Complex which happens when such low-status staff feel invisible. His panel presentation at Seattle University a year ago was rambling and bizarre and maybe it shook even his friends:
Various others in Knox’s hapless band have themselves in the past come out at the losing end of close encounters with police or the law or legal system.
Curt Knox was apparently taken to court on various occasions because he was so angry at Edda he would not pay Amanda’s child support. Perhaps that made him even more angry and willing to campaign against officialdom.
“Frank Sfarzo” apparently wont use his real name for murky reasons related to past deeds, and he was in some sort of police trouble again recently. Kermit posted a lot on that when the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists stupidly came down on Frank’s side.
http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C490/
FOA founder Anne Bremner was arrested and she copped a plea bargain late in 2010.
Doug Preston was briefly shaken up by Mignini, who suspected him of planting evidence for his theory of the MOF murders and using a false identity. Preston since seems to have developed a life-long grudge, although Mignini says he can barely remember who Preston was - and may have had grounds to arrest him but let him go anyway.
David Anderson is another who ended up with a huge chip on his shoulder - he testified wrongly in a UK case which led to a false conviction and of course blames all officialdom, but not himself.
And serial smearer “Bruce Fisher of New York” turned out to be a rather dim and pathetic status-challenged fur salesman really named Bruce Fischer in an outlying suburban mall in Chicago who was twice in bankruptcy court and lost his house in a foreclosure. He has zero qualifications related to crime or the law, and he doesnt seem to have ever visited Italy.
http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C487/
Italian police and prosecutors have been studying all of them and know all this above about them and much more, but seem to regard them as about as important and worth pursuing as ants. Lucky their campaign was not against New York police and prosecutors. They might all well be convicted by now for false allegations of crimes.
There are numerous other instances unearthed and posted about on PMF and if anybody would bother to read it, a book about this mass bandwagon of delusionists would make for a very long read.
There are very good REASONS why so many Americans and Brits retire to Italy. Kind people and efficient police and very low crime are among them. As for Amanda Knox… I for one believe her when she hints she would like to return to Italy and maybe even to serve out her term.
Though he might have been covering his own tail, Curt Knox did her no favors with his campaign which ties her for life to this crowd and a virtual prison in Seattle.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/28/12 at 02:01 PM | #
The police have been the only ones to take my illness seriously . Not even some doctors did.
Posted by aethelred23 on 06/29/12 at 02:16 AM | #
By the way,meet the future: The Police Enforcer 1.1 will be the most advanced Police Mech available in 2029.So drug junkies and smokers won´t enjoy themselves for too long:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcuvd1SGwnA
Posted by aethelred23 on 12/27/13 at 10:21 PM | #
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