Guidelines from the Salerno Public Prosecutor’s Office

Preventive detention and grounds for exemption: Raffaele Cantone’s guide

A person detained for up to 12 hours must be provided with a report containing the relevant documents

by Giovanni Negri

18 June 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Guidance for the police force, ranging from immediate access to databases to the provision of suitable premises, but also for public prosecutors, with the possibility of opening a second case file if a specific report of a criminal offence is identified. Raffaele Cantone, the new public prosecutor in Salerno, has issued guidelines on the application of two of the main – and controversial – changes introduced by the latest security decree, the preventative detention and the preliminary record in the presence of justifying grounds.

Access to databases

In the guidelines, Cantone, with regard to detention – which may last for a maximum of 12 hours and must be reported to the public prosecutor – urges the police to ensure they have immediate access, at the scene of the operation, to up-to-date databases from which they can obtain the criminal record of the dangerous individual who has been detained, to check, even if only to ascertain whether there are any police records relating to violent offences committed during demonstrations in the last five years.

Suitable premises

Furthermore, during events taking place in a public place or a venue open to the public, prevention services and public order measures must be put in place so as to be able, ‘in that particularly critical context’, searches and seizures to be carried out on numerous individuals under surveillance (through ‘screening operations’), with the aim of finding those items which, in themselves, would justify the application of preventative detention. Finally, nearby police stations with suitable premises must be identified, where the detained individual can be taken and held under secure conditions.

Notice to the data subject

All police communications must be addressed to the duty public prosecutor , initially by telephone and then in the form of formal documents setting out the grounds for detention, all of which must then be incorporated into an escort and detention report which, in Cantone’s view given the lack of specific legislation, must also be handed over to the person concerned.

Dual model

If the investigations do not lead to the establishment of a full report of a criminal offence, the documents submitted will be registered at Form 45, the standard form for documents not constituting reports of criminal offences (‘documents relating to the preventive detention order issued against X’), and handled in accordance with standard practice regarding detention for identification purposes or closed by the public prosecutor through self-archiving.

Where, on the other hand, the investigations make it possible to establish a full report of an offence, the investigating judicial police must file the documentation on the Public Prosecutor’s Office portal, in separate files from those relating to the preventive detention. In this case, therefore, two files will be created: the first using Form 21 for the offence with which the detainee is charged, and the second using Form 45 (documents relating to the preventive detention of X).

Three conditions for enrolment

There are three conditions for registration when there are grounds for justification: the public prosecutor must proceed with registration using the new Form 45-bis when three conditions are met: the existence of a report of an offence, evidence pointing to a specific perpetrator, and the existence of a justifying cause, ‘the latter assessed at first glance by the investigating authority, in accordance with the assessment criterion of “apparent evidence”, this criterion being understood to require a level of certainty at least equivalent to that of circumstantial evidence’.

To be reported to the person concerned

During the 120-day period available to the public prosecutor for investigations, the need to conduct a preliminary hearing results in the status of the person concerned changing from ‘person of interest’ to ‘suspect’. In any event, the victim who made the request must be informed of the application to dismiss the case.