Lucarelli, councilor for security: «I too am afraid in the station. We need more resources”

Of Flavia Fiorentino

Today the prefect urgently convened the Public Order Committee: The minister is looking for a structure near Termini to accommodate the homeless. The hunt for the Israeli girl stabber

“We will install a new system of “intelligent” cameras in Termini and continue the fight against degradation by reclaiming the area as we have already done with the Turbigo underpass”. This morning, the councilor with responsibility for security Monica Lucarelli will participate in the provincial committee for public order with the prefect Frattasi where the critical issues of the station will be addressed, while the capture of man that has stabbed the young Israeli seems to be imminent. The Termini station with all the its critical issues.

Assessor Lucarelli, the degradation in that area is becoming an emergency that is increasingly felt by the citizens
«The issue of station safety in big cities is common not only to Italian and European metropolises, similar problems are found in many countries around the world. They are places of passage, such as port areas, where it is difficult to intervene to help disadvantaged people: you don’t have time to start any integration process before they move, leave, are never found again. But there are not only homeless or disbanded, the composition of the population living in the station is very complex”

What do you mean?
«For example, there are Italian citizens who have lost their jobs and live on handouts and, at the other extreme, people without a residence permit who transit through Italy illegally and it is the duty of the police to take care of it. We have seen that the right key to tackling the subject is to coordinate all the protagonists: local police, law enforcement, the Department of Social Policies and the Department of Security. As for the stabbing, I’m getting information to understand what’s going on: it’s very different if it was a psychopath or a criminal who struck.”

TOAre you soon planning anti-deterioration interventions in the station area?
«A few weeks ago we concluded the redevelopment of the tunnel that passes under the tracks in via Giolitti which is the most problematic and also dangerous because people who are not clear-headed suddenly crossed the road with the risk of causing accidents. Now we have closed the interstices between one column and another with panels that make it impossible to stop or create a bed. To redevelop resources and with Minister Piantedosi, among many other initiatives, we are looking for how to obtain them. He summoned us just before Christmas together with his colleagues from Milan and Naples, who have the same problems in their railway yards and we will meet again immediately after the Epiphany. And those of Turin will also be added ».

In your opinion, is Rome a safe city?
“You can’t generalize. It must be said that on New Year’s Eve, during the concert at the Circus Maximus, therefore a large area with its neighboring spaces, despite the 50,000 participants, there was not a single act of violence or vandalism. The situation at the station is different, where I too am afraid and I am also frightened as a mother of twenty-year-old children who go around alone”

THEThe interior minister spoke of a structure confiscated from the mafia to transfer those who sleep in the station to a more decent and protected environment. Do you think it could be a solution?
«We are looking for a property near Termini because if the homeless understand that they can stay in the area, they are less resistant. And the minister is working to streamline the bureaucratic process. But other innovative and more radical interventions will concern Termini in view of the Jubilee of 2025 through an agreement between Grandi Stazioni and Roma Capitale”.

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03 January 2023

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Lucarelli, councilor for security: «I too am afraid in the station. We need more resources”