Current mood:	tired
Current music:	Mesh - People Like Me
Entry tags:	italy, police, politics, privatisation, self-defence

venetian citizens start taking responsibility for their own security
this story fits in nicely will my item on police illegimacy yesterday。 so far the venetian citizens are continuing the cooperate with the police， despite the police's inability or refusal to enforce the law themselves。 i would imagine in time this sort of thing will develop into a defacto privatisation of the police， at which point who will pay attention to the 'real' police？

Anton Faur is a migrant pickpocket. When he recently showed up for work in Venice, his hopes were high: Every year, around 12 million tourists throng and jostle through the city's narrow streets. This time, though, the target-rich environment didn't bear fruit. In just five days, the 17-year-old Romanian was arrested twice. "Venice is beautiful, but not for work," he complained as police booked him.

But it wasn't the police who caught him. Faur was nabbed both times by a civilian antipickpocket patrol called Cittadini Non Distratti, or Undistracted Citizens. Members, who call themselves "Citizens," walk around Venice looking for pickpockets. As thievery spikes during Carnival, when tipsy tourists mob the streets, the group increases patrols. The Cittadini Non Distratti look for a number of giveaways. Most pickpockets are men, they travel in small division-of-labor teams behind tourists, they stop when tourists stop, and their eyes concentrate on vulnerable pockets and bags—not gondolas and pretty buildings. The presence of a teenager is another clue (minors risk lighter punishment). Sudden distractions are an even bigger tip-off: directions sought by a map-wielding questioner, food spilled on a tourist by an apologetic stranger, a heated argument that diverts attention. [...]

Plainclothes cops like to think they blend right in. Artful dodgers think otherwise. "You can tell right away who's undercover," says a 28-year-old female pickpocket from Bosnia who requested anonymity. (Her hint: Look for the men in jeans, blue T-shirts, running shoes, and fanny packs roaming about with cell phones and indiscreet eyes.) Guessing if a passerby might intervene is next to impossible. After a recent wallet-snatch, a bystander seized her and held on until the uniforms showed up. She went to jail.

not very surprisingly， the local government is not pleased：

The city has refused Cittadini Non Distratti's requests for official recognition and logistical support. "It's do-it-yourself justice; it's a negative gunslinger culture," says Giuseppe Caccia, until recently Venice's deputy mayor for social affairs. That remark belies what is likely a greater concern: embarrassment. City Hall officials privately acknowledge that the para-police group is bad PR, leading some to think that the city can't adequately protect Venice's lifeblood—its tourists.

however the people and press are reacting positively。 even the police and courts appear to be responding positively now， although this could have something to do with someone else doing their job for them。 the endemic corruption and laziness of government workers is apparently encouraging italians elsewhere：

Rome Police Chief Aldo Zanetti says this "participative security" is increasingly common in Italy, and this new culture seems to be working. According to numbers in a 2005 Interior Ministry report, pickpocketing and purse-snatching have declined nationwide every year since 1997. The authors attribute part of this success to "reciprocal collaboration among the citizenry, law enforcement and institutions."

i would expect the reaction to such a movement in the uk to be the police arresting the good citizens for assaulting the poor criminals， the government putting the group onto the proscribed groups list and the fossil media using the group as witches-de-jour。 the rest of europe doesn't appear to be so far gone。。 more please。