Valtenesi Launches Satellite Surveillance to Combat Burglary Issues
It could be the cure against the microcriminality that has long plagued the seven municipalities of Valtenesi, primarily targeting private homes, whether occupied or, more often, unoccupied for most of the year as they are second homes.
Now the public administrators of Valtenesi are no longer able to tolerate the continuous complaints from their fellow citizens. Not a day passes when at least one of the over 5,000 residences is not targeted and visited by thieves. Repeated burglaries against which almost nothing can be done, or almost.
The law enforcement, despite their daily duties of patrolling and crime prevention, cannot do much more. So what to do? The idea has been thought of, and it has been on the mind of, the mayor of Manerba, Isidoro Bertini.
Satellite Control Idea
The idea is to bring the entire territory under direct satellite surveillance. It’s not a bad idea, especially since these satellites now follow us almost everywhere, making it relatively easy, or almost, to find ourselves under their control. The idea was well received not only by the mayors of Valtenesi (Manerba, Padenghe, San Felice, Puegnago, Polpenazze, and Soiano), but also by 90% of the population surveyed on the topic.
If the project proves successful, and all signs are positive, additional neighboring municipalities might join. Essentially, this involves installing, for an average cost of one million lire, including installation and based on a medium-sized apartment, a sophisticated device from which, if needed or in danger, the user can trigger an alarm signal that will be rapidly transmitted to a specially formed patrol of officers dedicated to this service, operating 24 hours a day, who will immediately respond to the reported location.
The proposal is that each municipality hires a new municipal police officer dedicated solely to this service, seven officers in total, who, through shifts, could cover the entire day. Valtenesi has an average of 15,000 residents, rising to over 60,000 during the summer months.
These figures only account for the presence in villas, second homes, apartments, and residences. It does not include guests in hotels and campsites. To launch the “Valtenesi sicura” project, at least 1,200 memberships need to be secured, along with the definition of issues such as responsibilities for contract drafting and fee collection, estimated at about 600,000 lire per year.
A future solution for management could be the Valtenesi Forest Consortium, which is about to be established after the regional electoral cycle. According to the mayor of Padenghe, Giancarlo Allegri, the municipalities will not need to handle the commercial aspects directly.
This should be handled by an external company, potentially the Forest Consortium, which could manage contracts and subscription fee collections. The idea of establishing a specific section of the Urban Police is also favorable, as they are authorized to conduct arrests directly, unlike private security firms.
Additionally, the Urban Police is granted the authority to use visual systems (blue flashing lights) and sound systems (sirens) to enhance their response in urgent cases. In fact, if the patrol were, for example, at Laghetti di Sovenigo, and the alarm were triggered in Santa Giulia of Padenghe, two remote locations, the response time would be no less than thirty minutes, giving enough time for any criminals to carry out a theft or other crime and escape.
With sirens and flashing lights, and thus absolute priority, response times could be significantly reduced, even below ten minutes.
