The Olbia Police Station has been "promoted" to the rank of "First Manager" but without staff. This unacceptable paradox, according to the unions, is the situation at State Police stations throughout Northern Sardinia, starting with the Sassari Police Headquarters. In the coming days, the unions will meet with the Ministry of the Interior regarding the new staffing plans and openly speak of "institutional shortsightedness," denouncing the low number of officer transfers to the north of the island and the failure to send new trainees from the 231st State Police cadet course.
According to the SIULP union, there is a shortage of approximately 200 officers between the Sassari Police Headquarters and the Olbia Police Station . Massimiliano Pala, provincial secretary of the Italian Unitary Police Workers Union, says: "This understaffing affects the ability to ensure an adequate level of security and territorial control, challenging not only the police officers, who are called upon daily to perform their duties under increasing pressure and workload, but also the entire community , which has the right to increasingly effective and continuous enforcement of the law."
In the Siulp documents we read that the current staff of the Olbia Public Safety Commissioner is made up of as soon as 57 operators, plus eight Forensic Police units, cover an operational area of over 1,280 km² and a stable population of approximately 75,000 . The SIULP reported to the Ministry of the Interior that Olbia is Sardinia's main infrastructure hub, with Italy's busiest passenger port (over 3.6 million travelers in 2024) and the Costa Smeralda International Airport, which handled 3.8 million passengers in the same year (an 18 percent increase compared to 2023). Pala concludes: "An immediate adjustment is needed to the operational structure of the Olbia Public Safety Commissioner's Office, which relies on a small staff, totally disproportionate to the functions performed and the territorial pressure."
