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Carabinieri
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The Arma dei Carabinieri (Carabinieri Corps) is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both the military and civilian populations. The Carabinieri is now a branch of armed forces (alongside the Army, Navy and Air Force), thus ending their long standing role as the first corps of the Italian army.
corps was created by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy, with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps similar to the French Gendarmerie.
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Encyclopedia
The Arma dei Carabinieri (Carabinieri Corps) is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both the military and civilian populations. The Carabinieri is now a branch of armed forces (alongside the Army, Navy and Air Force), thus ending their long standing role as the first corps of the Italian army.
History
The corps was created by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy, with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps similar to the French Gendarmerie. Previously, police duties were managed by the Dragoni di Sardegna corps, created in 1726 and composed of volunteers. After French soldiers had occupied Turin at the end of the 18th century and later abandoned it to the Kingdom of Piedmont, the corps of Royal Carabinieri was instituted under the Royal Patents of July 13, 1814.
The corps of Carabinieri cooperated with the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. Individual Carabinieri served in the Italian Africa Police in occupied Ethiopia, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, The Carabinieri are particularly proud of the memory of Brigadier Salvo D'Acquisto, who was executed by the Nazis in Palidoro, near Rome, in World War II, having exchanged his life for the lives of innocent citizens due to be executed in retaliation for the killing of a German soldier. Brigadier D'Acquisto falsely claimed responsibility and was shot for the offence.
The Carabinieri were criticised for their handling of the policing of the 2001 G8 Summit in Genoa and the killing of anarchist Carlo Giuliani during the demonstrations against the Group of Eight. A Carabinieri Land Rover Defender had become stuck and protesters wielding metal poles and wooden boards attacked it. In the midst of this clash a man wearing a blue ski mask, picked up a fire extinguisher and, apparently intending to throw it at the carabinieri inside, was hit by a shot fired by one of the officers, Mario Placanica. The man in the mask was later identified as Giuliani. The charges against Placanica were subsequently dropped when the presiding judge concluded that the bullet which struck Giuliani was not directly aimed at Giuliani and had "ricocheted off plaster", and ruled that the carabinieri had acted in self-defense, the case did not go to trial.
In recent years Carabinieri units have been dispatched on peacekeeping missions, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In 2003 twelve Carabinieri were killed in a suicide bombing on their base in Nasiriyah, near Basra, in southern Iraq, in the largest Italian military loss of life in a single action since the Second World War.
At the Sea Island Conference of the G8 in 2004, Carabinieri were given the mandate to establish a Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units to spearhead the development of training and doctrinal standards for civilian police units attached to international peacekeeping missions.
Organization
The corps is headed by the , consisting of the Comandante Generale (a General), the , a Lieutenant General, and the Headquarters Staff, all located in Rome. At the top is the Headquarters which directs, coordinates and supervises all activities of the force. It directly supervises the Directors of Administration, Health, Engineering, motor pool, and Veterinary Commission. Since the Chief of Staff depends on the of the (National Center for Recruitment and Selection) of the National Administrative Center and Legislation.
The Carabinieri are organised on a territorial basis for law enforcement missions. The territorial organization represents the core of the institution because it contains 80 percent of the force and is organized hierarchically in five inter-regional, 19 regional and 102 provincial commands.
Outside the territorial organisation, the Specialist Mobile Unit Command Palidoro based in Rome controls the Mobile Unit Division, Specialist Unit Division and the ROS.
The Mobile Unit Division
The Mobile Unit Division is located in Treviso has two brigades with the tasks of mass maneuvering events to cope with emergencies, to perform military tasks associated with the defense of the national territory and participation in military operations abroad, provides support activities in the area of public order and control of the territory in large urban areas and in the most sensitive areas in terms of public safety and contributes to the operations of the civil authorities.
ROS
The ROS (Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale or Special Operational Group is an elite unit founded in 1990 to deal with organised crime (Mafia and others), subversive activities, terrorism and the more complex types of crime. An anti-crime section is found in every city district public prosecutor's office.
Special Tasks Departments
Special Tasks Departments are outside the ordinary organisational framework and are used for special missions:
Corazzieri (Cuirassiers) are an elite corps and honour guard of the President of the Italian Republic located in the Quirinal Palace. They are distinguished by their uniforms and height (the minimum height for admission is 190 cm, or 6 feet 3 inches). They have almost no other everyday duties, although they may be seen patrolling occasionally.
Other departments are in service to Constitutional Bodies such as the Presidency of the Republic, the Senate, Parliament, the Judiciary, the Prime Minister and the National Council of Economy and Labour.
Carabinieri also perform Military police and security duties for the Ministry of Defence, military high commands, offices of the military judiciary and allied military organisations in Italy and abroad. They also have personnel attached to the Department of Public Security in various departments as well as anti-mafia and anti-drug investigation task forces. Furthermore, Carabinieri officers are in charge of surveillance and security at Italian Embassies and Consulates abroad, performing the same services entrusted to the United States Marine Corps in US Diplomatic and Consular offices.
War Service
The main battles in which the Carabinieri took part before World War I are:
- Grenoble, July 5, 1815 (baptism by fire)
- 30 April 1848, flag dell'Arma awarded the first Silver Medal at the Military Valor.
- Verona, 6 May 1848, flag dell'Arma awarded the first Medal of Valor Bronze at Military.
- Custoza, Staffalo, Sommacampagna, Valeggio, Milan, Peschiera del Garda, from July 24 to August 4, 1848.
- Perugia, Garigliano, Mola di Gaeta, from September 14 to November 4, 1860.
- Monzambano, Villafranca, Custoza, 24 June 1866.
- Taking Rome, 20 September 1870, together with Bersaglieri.
- Sciara Sciat and Two Palms (Italo-Turkish War, 1911-1912).
In the First World War, the Carabinieri served with distinction at the Battle of Podgora, July 19, 1915.
For its contributions during the First World War, the force's flag dell'Arma was awarded the first Gold Medal at the Military Valor.
In World War II, Carabinieri were distinguished in the following battles:
- Battle of Culqualber (Ethiopia), 6 August-21 November 1941, flag dell'Arma awarded the second Gold Medal at the Military Valor.
- Battle of Eluet El Asel (Libya), 19 December 1941.
- 16-30 December 1941, flag dell'Arma awarded the Bronze Medal of Valor to Military.
From 1943 to 1945, the Carabinieri were answerable to the Control Commission in the Allied Military Government (AMGOT). Their reorganisation and reform was organised by Colonel Arthur Young, a British police officer seconded as Director of Public Safety and Director of Security.
Weapons
In response to the many and diverse needs of the Carabinieri, the service provides for the use of various types of weapons that are divided into ordinary weapons and special weapons, supplied to all staff is structured as follows:
Ordinary
Special weapons
Used only by certain departments and in certain circumstances:
Vehicles and equipment
Until very recently the Italian Police including the Carabinieri operated only Italian built vehicles but that changed with the introduction of Land Rover Defenders and Subarus into service. Normal Carabinieri patrol vehicles are very dark blue with a white roof, the blue has a red stripe along the side. Carabinieri license plates beginning with "CC" and for traditional reasons Carabinieri cars are called Gazzella (gazelle). Small or medium-sized cars are used for ordinary patrol work, with larger and more powerful vehicles being used for emergency response, traffic patrol and special services.
The vehicles of the Carabinieri military police and mobile units are painted Italian military green and have license plates beginning with "EI," as do the vehicles of other Italian Army vehicles.
Cars
Motorcycles
Helicopters
Tactical vehicles
- Land Rover Defender 110 soft top
- IVECO 40.10WM 4X4 off-road military truck - light armored vehicle based on the Iveco Daily, includes semi-armored and fully-armored variants called the VM90 Torpedo and VM90 Protected.
- Unimog
- Puma 6x6
- FIAT 6616
- VCC1
Motorboats
See also
External links
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