Serious shortages of staff and structures. These are the themes that emerged yesterday in Sassari in the rooms on the top floor near the Quadrato, in the meeting between the undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior Wanda Ferro and the representatives of the state police unions.

«In the last ten years», declares Massimo Zucconi Martelli, deputy secretary of Siap, «seven police offices have been closed in the Sassari area, including the nautical teams».

A void that is felt and leads, in the case of detached police stations, to not guaranteeing a 24 hour patrol and when it is ensured it is done with only one patrol car in the area. And the personal emergency, which concerns the province - from Sassari to Olbia, from Arzachena to Tempio - also becomes evident for specialties such as road, railway, postal and border police. Particularly evident in summer with the arrival of millions of tourists. «We wanted to represent to the undersecretary», reports Alessandro Cosso, regional secretary of Silp Cigl, «all these critical issues. This year, for example, 55 workers will retire, replaced with two units for the police station, three for the traffic police and four for the border police."

Data that surprise Ferro and which, as reported by the social partners, are the indicator of a situation that must be remedied quickly, also because, with these forces, which include administrative and anti-crime police, there are areas that risk being discovered and not manned like Palau or Golfo Aranci. «The undersecretary», says Giuseppe Caracciolo, Siulp regional secretary, «has given us great availability in resolving problems. However, we do everything we can to make up for these shortcomings."

But the difficulties can also be seen in the various premises where the police work and whose rental contracts are about to end. The case of Arzachena is emblematic in which the state police headquarters risked eviction and thanks to the mayor the contract was postponed for a year. «Due to the lack of staff», the three trade unionists agree, «we are unable to carry out our work of controlling the territory».

In a province where crime, particularly in Sassari and Alghero, is slowly spreading. The FdI deputies Barbara Polo and Salvatore Deidda also participated in the meeting.