Polizia Provinciale
Encyclopedia
In Italy
, the polizia provinciale ('provincial police') is a general term used to identify provincial-level police forces. Each Italian province
can by statute have its own police force (more or less like the American county police, but with much less power), but most of them have not instituted one for lack of fundings or because it is deemed "not necessary"; most of the provinces that have their own police are located in Northern Italy
.
Polizia provinciale are small police organisations and their main duties are to enforce regional and national hunting and fishing laws but have also expanded into environmental protection. The forces' vehicles are usually white with a green or blue stripe along the side. As they are not considered national Police organizations, armaments (when allowed) is left to the initiative of the individual officers, and as such most of polizia provinciale members have to rely on firearms normally sold on the civilian market; seen the normal duties of such organizations, most of the firearms used by their members are hunting rifles or shotguns. However, when on-duty, the provincial police officers can be issued with some kind of equipment normally not available to civilians, such as generation-3 and above night-vision devices, used especially in anti-poaching operations.
Polizia provinciale must be distinguished from questura, the office of head of the state's police (polizia di stato
) in province, called questore (questor
).
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the polizia provinciale ('provincial police') is a general term used to identify provincial-level police forces. Each Italian province
Provinces of Italy
In Italy, a province is an administrative division of intermediate level between a municipality and a region .-Overview:...
can by statute have its own police force (more or less like the American county police, but with much less power), but most of them have not instituted one for lack of fundings or because it is deemed "not necessary"; most of the provinces that have their own police are located in Northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
.
Polizia provinciale are small police organisations and their main duties are to enforce regional and national hunting and fishing laws but have also expanded into environmental protection. The forces' vehicles are usually white with a green or blue stripe along the side. As they are not considered national Police organizations, armaments (when allowed) is left to the initiative of the individual officers, and as such most of polizia provinciale members have to rely on firearms normally sold on the civilian market; seen the normal duties of such organizations, most of the firearms used by their members are hunting rifles or shotguns. However, when on-duty, the provincial police officers can be issued with some kind of equipment normally not available to civilians, such as generation-3 and above night-vision devices, used especially in anti-poaching operations.
Polizia provinciale must be distinguished from questura, the office of head of the state's police (polizia di stato
Polizia di Stato
The Polizia di Stato is one of the national police forces of Italy.It is the main police force for providing police duties and it is also responsible for patrolling motorways , railways , airports , customs as well as certain waterways, and assisting the local police...
) in province, called questore (questor
Questor
The term Questor may refer to:*Questor Thews, a character in the Magic Kingdom of Landover series of books by Terry Brooks.*An alternate spelling of Quaestor, an ancient Roman official...
).