For everyone he is "the marshal of Sant'Elia". After 24 years spent on the front line in the Cagliari district, Mauro Secci, lieutenant with a special position, commander of the San Bartolomeo police station, is now retired. Throughout this period he fought drug dealing in Sant'Elia, carrying out numerous raids and concluding important investigations together with his closest collaborators. And he always spoke to the prominent figures of the neighborhood, addressing them firmly but with great respect for men, thus receiving respect.

"I will take away many memories," he says. «But the most beautiful story that has happened to me in these 36 years of career in the Arma is the one related to a little boy, stopped for drug dealing in Sant'Elia. With tears in her eyes she confided in me that she had to do it as the family didn't even have anything to eat. Thanks also to the collaboration of the then parish priest of the neighborhood, Don Marco, today that boy is a different person and a friendship has been born».

It has seen Sant'Elia change, "one of the best areas of Cagliari", becoming a livable district. And drug dealing "has been reduced by 70 percent." The criminals have also changed: «There have never been real bosses, but prominent figures who over time have had problems with the law and managed some drug dealing squares. They still had respect. Now petty criminals are more violent: it seems they want to appear at all costs».

And after all these years spent in the Arma, he explains, «I will miss the daily life of going to the barracks and making myself available to the citizen for any need. Just as I will miss all my colleagues whom I thank for their great professionalism ».

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