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reference point for the entire Headquarters and for other Italian and foreign Law-
Enforcement Agencies allowing to con- duct a careful analysis of criminal phenomenon
concerning the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
The database includes the description of more than 1.200.000 stolen objects, with more than
615,220 images (Statistical data up to December 2017).
It is a powerful Information Technology tool that allows the recovery of stolen items due to the
combination of the efficiency of its image search algorithm and the experience of TPC operators.
Furthermore, it allows to conduct a careful analysis of criminal phenomenon concerning the illicit
trafficking of cultural property.
The priority of the Carabinieri TPC is to recover the tolen Works of Art, because the greatest
possible damage to Cultural Heritage is the disappearance of
the objects. The recovery paths may be judicial or
extrajudicial.
Carabinieri TPC have already served abroad in some
Inter- national Missions (e.g. in the framework of the “Joint
Guardian” UN mission in Kosovo and in the Ita- lian Peace
Keeping Mission “Antica Babilonia” in Iraq). Their main
tasks during those missions were: assessing war damage to
Cultural Heritage; cataloguing existing Items; surveying
archeological sites and assessing their security; training local
Officials in Protection of Cultural Heri- tage.
The “iTPC App”
Public awareness is a key factor in the fight against art crimes. A new way to put the public in
contact with our work in protecting Cultural Heritage is the new app iTPC. Edited in 2014, in its
first version, the iTPC application, for mobile devices (smartphone/tablet), has been renewed in its
graphic layout, contents and functionalities.
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