Security not on the left’s agenda

Words and good intentions seem to be all Prodi
and his ministers have to offer to improve the country’s security. In the long
dead twelve point program the left presented before the elections, law
enforcement and crime detection were among the main issues along which the new
cabinet was supposed to outline its strategy. Also, in a press conference held
in may, meant to set out the Cabinet’s first year of activity, Romano Prodi
once again stated that “fighting crime and increase security are among the
Government’s priorities”.   

However, the concrete steps taken by
the left in this direction can be counted on the fingers of one hand while the
recently approved financial law has drastically cut the funds destined to law
enforcement, as pointed out by senator Sergio De Gregorio, President of the
high chamber Defence Committee, who stressed the urgent need to beef up the
country’s security apparatuses. The call has yet remained unheeded, given that
none of the left’s leading lights has even proposed to assign part of the
increased tax revenue to security.

Still, according to the figures
released by the EU report: “Crime and Security in the EU”, Italian
citizens are those who, after the greeks, are most concerned for their security
at home, and occupy the third place in the list of those most scared to walk
around their cities. This perception is certainly, in part, the outcome of the
pardon which brought to the release of some 42.000 detainees in the summer of
2006.

A direct result of the lefts’
inability to tackle the issue seems also the steep increase in citizens who
choose a “do it yourself” approach to security, as proved, for
example, by a 5.4% rise in the number of private companies working in the
field, and a 50% increase in the release of gun licences in the Milano area.

In this picture, the data in the
first report on the state of criminality, expected to be published on Wednesday
by deputy interior minister Marco Minniti, will likely represent one more proof
of the left’s inertia on one of the issues dearest to the people.