The "Safe Streets" Operation started on 4th August 2008 on the national territory, after the promulgation of the Law n. 125 of the 24th July 2008 n.92; that law authorizes "the employment of a military contingent of the Armed Forces in specific and extraordinary circumstances to prevent criminality.
The first contingent, with 3,000 women and men of the Italian Army, has been available to the Prefects of the Provinces in order to carry out surveillance activities of sensitive targets and locations, including the areas near the Homeless Shelters, but also for patrol activities in support of the Police.
The military personnel of the "Safe Streets" Operation, in quality of Public Security Agents, receive a special theoretical-practical training that guarantees a rapid operational reaction in particular situations.
Moreover, on the framework of the "Safe Streets" Operation, the Army has intervened with specific tasks in L'Aquila, after the earthquake of 2009, in Val di Susa for the security of the building sites for the High-Speed Rail, in Naples and Caserta for the "Terra dei Fuochi" emergency as well as in Milan for the EXPO 2015, where the soldiers have contributed to the security of the areas involved by the event.
During the Special Jubilee of Mercy (8th December 2015 - 20th November 2016), the "Safe Streets" disposition of about 4,800 units was increased with additional 1,500 soldiers, in order to guarantee the security of the Jubilee sites, the borders, the harbours and the airports. After the earthquake that hit Central Italy, the "Safe Streets" dispositions was organized to form a specific Task Force of about 500 units with the task of guarantee the security in the evacuated areas in the provinces of Rieti, Ascoli Piceno, Perugia and Macerata. Today for the "Safe Streets" Operation about 7,800 women and men of the Italian Army are employed to guarantee an importante presence on the national territory to maintain the security.
For last two years, the military of the Operation "Safe Streets" have intervened, with tasks of area control and access control, to cope with the following emergency situations:
- earthquake on the island of Ischia (NA), on date 21 August 2017;
- Morandi bridge collapse in Genova, on 14 August 2018;
- weather events in the Province of Belluno, on October 27, 2018;
- eartquake in the city of Catania and province, on 26 December 2018.
In addition, starting in 2018 and throughout 2019, in order to ensure a more qualified contribution to Homeland Security, a process of enhancement of the technical peculiarities has been started in order to employ "Strade Sicure" personnel in line with the skills and training of the Army units. The measures adopted in this sense by the F.A. include the reconfiguration of services in a dynamic sense and the concomitant reduction of purely static services, the use of specialized structures (e.g. Remote Pilot Aircraft structures in the so-called Land of Fires and other types of sensors that increase observation capacity).
COVID-19 EMERGENCY
The “Safe Streets” Operation has been remodelled throughout the country with the spread of the epidemiological crisis, increase personell in the red zones and to improve every tasks assigned at to military personnel and every things necessary to countering the spread of the virus COVID-19 as dectated to Italian Govern.
In order to carry out "Homeland Security" operations, the Contingent was increased on the basis of Government measures, in subsequent phases, deploying forces (367 additional units) in the most affected areas, in particular in the territories of: Lodi, Vo' Euganeo, Bergamo (requirements completed) Novara, Pesaro, Trieste, Salerno and Naples (still in progress).
In addition the Italian Army has assicured an increase to over 386 unit for 16 italian provinces for give major protection at the local population as specified by the Ministry of the Interior; since 21Th may 2020, soldiers employed in Safe Street Operation is about 7800 units.
Finally, to look carefully the development of the epidemiological framework and the dimensions it has assumed and the need to implement containment measures throughout the national territory, the Armed Forces has prepared a plan for the activation and deployment of a total number of 6,000 soldiers, drawn on a regional basis with different readiness (24, 72 and 120 hours).
The Command and Control component, which normally guarantees 24-hour support with the Public Security Authorities, has reconfigured the way services are carried out as required by Prefectures and Police Headquarters (over 100 orders in about 45 days), guaranteeing logistical, administrative and health support. The Operative Component was used to increase the control of Italian territories and citizens with about 4000 at day, making a decisive contribution to imposing the limitations dictated by the Pubblic security Authorities.
The Italian army and law enforcement have been employed in a significant number of people to ensure full control of the "outbreak" area and to reduce displacements. In addition the italian army has used special tactical asset such Micro-APRand EQ-11B/C "RAVEN B/DDL" and drones to increase the Situational Awareness which real-time image and video capture capability.