Garda Security Summit Addresses Crime, Drug Issues and Resource Needs

Security Meeting on Garda

Security summit on Garda’s lakeside. Top representatives of the state, law enforcement agencies, and mayors of some neighboring municipalities gathered in the Garda capital to address one of the main topics on the agenda. It concerns micro-criminality and more generally the issue of safety, which is of great concern to the approximately 80,000 residents, as well as to the tourists who have been flocking to the lake in recent months.

At the meeting, held at the police station, there were the new Questore of Brescia, the Prefect, the President of the Provincial Administration Alberto Cavalli, Captain Adinolfi, the regional commander of the Carabinieri in Brescia, along with representatives from the Finance Police (Guardia di Finanza), and the captains in charge of the Desenzano and Salò companies, as well as mayors of Desenzano, Sirmione, and Salò.

The Main Issues Addressed

The issues on the table are the usual ones. They range from petty crimes such as snatching thefts, but especially burglaries in private homes — which greatly annoy Garda residents — to increasingly frequent incidents in hotel rooms. There are also damages, disturbances during the night often linked to youthful exuberance and nightclub areas where music is played.

Additionally, there are problems related to drugs and prostitution, the latter being a significant underground business in the lower lake area due to the presence of exploiters’ organizations, as evidenced by shooting incidents involving non-EU citizens, especially Albanians. Shootouts, beatings, robberies, and even a homicide that occurred about two years ago in Lonato are part of this context.

The most striking cases include the murder of the goldsmith in Toscolano and an accident on the Desenzano bypass caused by a non-EU citizen attempting to escape police pursuit. His loss of control led to a head-on collision that resulted in the deaths of three Milanese tourists.

The Phenomena of Drugs and Degradation

Another serious issue is drug consumption, which is linked to many minor crimes. “We discussed these problems —” reports the mayor of Desenzano Felice Anelli —. The situation is not alarming. We have non-EU citizens who sell goods illegally, disturbances at night related to the large influx of nightlife venues in the city and the lower lake area, and thefts.

We called for greater state presence through increased staffing. The problems are shared —” confirms the mayor of Sirmione Maurizio Ferrari —; noise, but especially exploiters of prostitutes, who find houses here and bring trouble along with them.

However, the common dilemma for all tourist municipalities, from Salò to Desenzano and Sirmione, is that they have to handle increasingly broad responsibilities delegated by the State, without a corresponding adequate transfer of resources. We established, for example, the surveillance consortium with the municipalities of Pozzolengo and Padenghe to better coordinate actions and improve interventions, especially at night, by pooling forces.

In this context, support from the Province or Region would be necessary. These are the main issues addressed during the meeting. The staffing levels have been somewhat increased on the lake and during the summer months. But without a substantial increase in personnel and a significant deployment of officers and resources compared to the past, we cannot expect “remarkable breakthroughs”.