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Italy


Italy has a well-established tradition of police forces framed in military structures.

Even today, at least two of the national police forces, the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza, are an integral part of the Italian Armed Forces. The Corpo delle Capitanerie di porto is a branch of the Marina Militare, and the Corpo forestale dello Stato, after its dissolution (2016), was mostly incorporated into the Carabinieri "forestali".

The Polizia di Stato has been demilitarized since 1981 and the Polizia Penitenziaria since 1990. However, both corps make extensive use of military equipment, especially in the area of weapons. The Reparti mobili della Polizia di Stato (informally dubbed la Celere) are logistically and organizationally similar to a military battalion; often their personnel operate jointly with personnel from Carabinieri battaglioni/reggimenti. The Prison Police has its own specialized department (Gruppo Operativo Mobile), which deals, among other things, with "facing critical situations in the prison environment."

During the Years of Lead, in order to deal with high-risk operational situations and also, specifically, as a result of the unsuccessful German response to the Munich massacre, NOCS (State Police) and GIS (Arma dei Carabinieri) were established, comparable to SWAT units from other countries.

Since 2008, thousands of members of the armed forces (mainly Italian Army) have been engaged in Operazione Strade sicure, basically to replace/assist law enforcement agencies in policing tasks (prevention/deterrence).

The November 2015 Paris attacks had shown that normal police patrols could be ineffective against sudden terrorist attacks with military-grade weapons (nor, moreover, was it realistic to assume that the elite units described above could always be present in places that required an exceptional state response). Precisely in order to engage such attackers — enabling GIS or NOCS to intervene decisively, while limiting the risks to public safety — "intermediate tactical formations" Unità operative di primo intervento of the State Police, and Aliquote di primo intervento - Squadre operative di supporto of the Carabinieri were created.