Comments on: Need to get married? Call the Carabinieri http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/2523/need-to-get-married-call-the-carabinieri/ My personal account of living real life in real Venice, and more Wed, 16 May 2012 18:41:02 +0000 hourly 1 By: Erla http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/2523/need-to-get-married-call-the-carabinieri/comment-page-1/#comment-195 Erla Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:52:36 +0000 http://66.147.244.215/~iamnotma/?p=2523#comment-195 Let me give a very rough and possibly over-simplified explanation, meaning no disrespect to either of these noble corps. The Carabinieri are one of the four Italian Armed Forces. They've got fairly broad powers; depending on the situation, they can act either as police or as military. The Carabinieri are military police. In fact, the Carabinieri started out as border police combatting smuggling -- but the Police aren't military. The Polizia are part of ordinary common-garden-variety "public service" (sounds better in Italian). So when there's a moderate problem like a family fighting or something -- it's the police who step in. If it's homicide, the Carabinieri intervene. Also, the Carabinieri are apolitical, while the police have a union. The Carabinieri are in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the police aren't. As for the risk of one or the other "taking over," I'm not sure where that idea came from. In the US we have a number of different public-order-keeping organizations, each with a different purpose and responsibility, and I'm not convinced they all exist because of some fear of a potential coup of some sort on the part of one or the other. Same thing in Italy. I hope this helps! Let me give a very rough and possibly over-simplified explanation, meaning no disrespect to either of these noble corps. The Carabinieri are one of the four Italian Armed Forces. They’ve got fairly broad powers; depending on the situation, they can act either as police or as military. The Carabinieri are military police. In fact, the Carabinieri started out as border police combatting smuggling — but the Police aren’t military. The Polizia are part of ordinary common-garden-variety “public service” (sounds better in Italian). So when there’s a moderate problem like a family fighting or something — it’s the police who step in. If it’s homicide, the Carabinieri intervene. Also, the Carabinieri are apolitical, while the police have a union. The Carabinieri are in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the police aren’t. As for the risk of one or the other “taking over,” I’m not sure where that idea came from. In the US we have a number of different public-order-keeping organizations, each with a different purpose and responsibility, and I’m not convinced they all exist because of some fear of a potential coup of some sort on the part of one or the other. Same thing in Italy. I hope this helps!

]]> By: Gary Beck http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/2523/need-to-get-married-call-the-carabinieri/comment-page-1/#comment-194 Gary Beck Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:01:10 +0000 http://66.147.244.215/~iamnotma/?p=2523#comment-194 What's the difference between the Carabinieri and the Polizia in Italy? I've often been confused to see both of them with seemingly (to the foreign tourist) similar duties... Someone told me that the two exist so that neither can "take over", but I'm not sure I believe that... -gbeck What’s the difference between the Carabinieri and the Polizia in Italy? I’ve often been confused to see both of them with seemingly (to the foreign tourist) similar duties…

Someone told me that the two exist so that neither can “take over”, but I’m not sure I believe that…

-gbeck

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