Urban security: local councils call on private security firms for help

From night-time patrols to auxiliary security posts outside hospitals, shopping centres and police stations: private security services are becoming a permanent fixture in the busiest areas, often featuring in news stories. The fact is that municipal police forces are unable, on their own, to monitor all areas of the city: partly due to staff shortages at police headquarters, and partly due to an increase in duties, ranging from from managing the nightlife to tackling urban decay, right through to CCTV surveillance and security at major events. ‘We have a shortfall of 11,400 officers, but at the same time we are also witnessing a resurgence in street violence – explains Antonio Ragonesi, head of the Security and Legality Department at ANCI –. We need to collaborate and also strengthen the public-private partnership.”

In fact, it is not uncommon for the local authorities themselves to encourage shopkeepers to installwith CCTV cameras and security staff, as the presence of security guards and CCTV systems helps to reduce incidents of theft and violence. ‘The contribution of the private sector is crucial,’ continues Ragonesi. ‘For example, if I have a street with shops that have their own CCTV cameras, I can avoid installing more by connecting the existing ones to the public system.’

These are forms of public-private partnership that have existed for some time (and which have sometimes contributed to a fall in wages): as early as 2010, the Ministry of the Interior had promoted the ‘Mille Occhi sulla Città’ protocol to regulate the reporting of situations of risk or deterioration identified during patrols carried out by private individuals. The Minniti Act of 2017 then expanded on this concept by introducing integrated urban security and agreements between prefectures and local councils. However, the result has not always been as hoped: “The Data Protection Authority’s rules are unclear,” says Ragonesi, “we need operational guidelines. Shopkeepers are afraid of being fined because, for example, a camera might be out of position, or because of the liability of those holding the data.”

In any case, there is no shortage of examples across the country of collaboration with security services (sometimes even at the request of the prefectures themselves). The National Association of Private Security Companies (ANIVP) has attempted to monitor the protocols of local councils: Ravenna, for example, signed a two-year pilot project on 30 April, in anticipation of the summer season, between the local police and the Cooperativa Spiagge di Ravenna, to ensure liveability and night-time safety on the beaches of Romagna. Lecce had already undertaken a similar initiative last year, with a memorandum of understanding between the public and private sectors which provided for, in addition to the installation of CCTV systems funded by the Puglia Region, coordinated security services. Forte dei Marmi has also deployed three patrols of security guards to monitor the city’s most vulnerable areas at night, whilst Genoa has expanded the scope of the initiative, involving nightclub operators, local health authorities and private security operators in the ‘Let’s Have Fun Safely’ initiative. Finally, in Lucca, the ‘Safe Nights’ project has deployed two private security officers to support the municipal police during the evening hours.

The outsourcing of ancillary security services has now become the norm, including by the regions. “I would like to mention the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, which expressly provides, through a regulation, for the possibility for local authorities to make use of private security services, in accordance with and under the terms set out in current legislation,” emphasises Giulio Gravina, vice-president of ANIVP. ‘It would be appropriate for the experience of Friuli-Venezia Giulia to be incorporated into the new framework for local police reform.’