Page 221 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

Tackling Environmental Crime throUgh standardized Methodologies

The strong partnership provided by EUROPOL allowed a better coope-
ration at a national level where different Law Enforcement Agencies and
Customs often have different procedures and competencies; therefore Joint
Police Operation Waste Trafficking resulted in the intensification of normal
multi-agency activities and in the intensification of international investigations.

Therefore, it seems necessary to point out that the threat of environmental
crime should not longer be considered only as emerging but as a possible serious
and current threat also for public health. Since frauds are the common denomi-
nator in the area of so-called economic crime, Carabinieri HQ and CC
Command for Agricultural Policies applied to OLAF (Office Lutte anti-fraude)
for funding in the framework of Hercule III Program, for a training course in
the area of frauds against EU funding in the agricultural sector. The proposal
was awarded by OLAF and the course is going to take place in the late June at
Superior Institute for Investigation Techniques (ISTI) of Velletri, around Rome.

The issues of frauds in agriculture gives me the opportunity to briefly
come back to the general structure of Carabinieri corps, its operational model
and approach and the national activities in the field. Having described the signi-
ficant commitment of the Italian Carabinieri to the protection of the environ-
ment at an European level, please allow me to give you a picture of its role at
a national level. The Italian Carabinieri, a Police Force with a military status,
dating back to more than 2 centuries, base their operational model on a net of
4.575 Stations, that perform a thorough control of the territory for the benefit
of the citizens, through an effective formative activity, based on the direct
observation and the link to the population.

As a complement to their action there is a consistent support provided by
Carabinieri territorial investigative and specialized units, which are very experien-
ced and capable of performing complex investigations, even in the field of coun-
ter-terrorism as well as environment, agriculture, healthcare, cultural-heritage and
labor protection. Summing up, the Carabinieri Corps effectiveness is based on an
organization that has , as a major key factor, the constant and complementary
synergy between the specialized Units and the territorial Commands, molecularly
spread on the whole territory, guaranteed recipients of the needs of the commu-
nity and necessary actors in the field of prevention and contrast to any crime.

219