Seizures of goods, checks and finding of missing persons. These are the cornerstones on which Polfer's budget for the past year is inserted, also characterized by numerous prevention activities.

Three million and six hundred thousand people were checked, 920 arrests and 8,711 suspects. There were also numerous seizures: 330 weapons, 11 firearms, 242 cutting and 77 improper ones, as well as about 2.5 kg of cocaine, 7 kg of heroin and over 33 kg of hashish.

199,938 patrols were in the station and 32,985 on board the train. The reduction in attendance at railway yards, also linked to the Covid emergency, “has determined in the last two years - explains Polfer in a note - a generalized decline in the main criminal phenomena. In particular, thefts in stations and on trains, once again this year confirm the downward trend (-59% compared to 2020, with the passage from 4,572 to 1,851 events).

In addition, the surveillance services also continued on cross-border passenger trains in collaboration with the European police forces, in particular of Austria and Germany, to prevent illegal activities of a transnational nature, with particular reference to illegal immigration; as well as the investigations related to the theft of copper.

In 2021, railway police officers tracked down around 1,188 missing people, including around 1,100 minors. There were also many happy ending stories and several rescues, such as the one that arrives from Santhià (Vercelli), when on April 26 a forty-four year old went to the station with the intention of putting an end to his life. The intervention of the policemen prevented the man from throwing himself under a convoy that was about to arrive, just after saying the words "I throw".

And unfortunately there have been numerous episodes of boys present on the tracks for games and challenges that could have had tragic consequences. “Often in these cases the young protagonists ignore the dangers present in stations or on trains. For this reason, the railway police have long been involved in schools to promote the culture of individual safety in the railway sector, especially among adolescents ”.

(Unioneonline / ss)

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