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4 The performance of Mussolini’s policemen: reflections on institutional culture, working conditions and welfare Mussolini’s policemen The performance of Mussolini’s policemen As part of its design to empower and restructure the police, the fascist regime aimed to deal with what it saw as a legacy of decades of disorganisation, neglect and malpractice left by the liberal state. Such intentions undoubtedly appealed to many of those in the Interior Ministry Police who for decades had campaigned for an institutional overhaul. Fascist concepts of reform were
This book examines the careers and lives of regular Italian police personnel against the background of Benito Mussolini's rise to power and his attempted construction of a new fascist civilisation. It analyses how, and to what extent, the new regime transformed the existing structures and functions of the Italian police. The book explores the cultural environment in which Mussolini's policeman acted. In spite of notable levels of support for fascism among policemen, Mussolini's movement was hesitant in its relations with the police, particularly the institutions of the Interior Ministry. It analyses how effectively a fascist culture penetrated the police. The book contrasts the regime's official and much propagandised integration of the Public Security forces into the new political order with the ideological and professional shortcomings behind recruitment and training procedures. The professional tasks entrusted to the regular organs of the Interior Ministry Police and the Carabinieri at the level of the community and the type of relationships that arose are then examined. An assessment of the quality of performance of the regular police and the effectiveness of internal hierarchical structures governing them during the fascist years follows. The book reviews the profiles of the careers and lives of a selection of members of the Interior Ministry Police, with a view to consolidate an understanding of the various issues. Finally, it considers how the Italian police forces reacted to the gradual demise of fascism, underlining how their growing dissociation from the regime reflected its failure to engender lasting loyalty among personnel.
4 Policemen, protesters and libertarians The marked lack of grounds for complaints about the behaviour of the police at the Hyde Park rally to mark the arrival of the hunger marchers in London in March 1934 was not the result the NCCL had expected. The presence of its observers was recognised as having contributed to the peaceful outcome but the absence of the violent police actions and widespread disorder seen at the previous hunger march denied the newly formed organisation the momentum of a conspicuous legal challenge and sensational headlines in the press
MUP FINAL PROOF – <STAGE>, 10/29/2013, SPi 3 Moral policemen of the domestic economy Guinness good. Sherry good. No wine. No coal. No petrol. No gas. No electric. No paraffin. John Betjeman, 27 March 1943 From ‘voluntary measures of economy’ to full rationing The shortages John Betjeman grumpily recorded to friends in England highlight the gaps in the Irish supply system. While Betjeman’s government bore much responsibility for the shortages, the role of the Department of Supplies also demands scrutiny. It is surprising that firmer steps were not taken by
administrative database produced by the Ministry of Territorial Administration ( Glasman, 2020 : 170–2, 196–197). Back at the agencies’ headquarters, whether Paris or New York, it is easy to forget that high quality numbers ultimately depend on an army of local bureaucrats, policemen or nurses. In northern Cameroon, a large chunk of the population is missing from administrative records. This is because less than one in five births are assisted by a healthcare
As imperial political authority was increasingly challenged, sometimes with violence, locally recruited police forces became the front-line guardians of alien law and order. This book presents a study that looks at the problems facing the imperial police forces during the acute political dislocations following decolonization in the British Empire. It examines the role and functions of the colonial police forces during the process of British decolonisation and the transfer of powers in eight colonial territories. The book emphasises that the British adopted a 'colonial' solution to their problems in policing insurgency in Ireland. The book illustrates how the recruitment of Turkish Cypriot policemen to maintain public order against Greek Cypriot insurgents worsened the political situation confronting the British and ultimately compromised the constitutional settlement for the transfer powers. In Cyprus and Malaya, the origins and ethnic backgrounds of serving policemen determined the effectiveness which enabled them to carry out their duties. In 1914, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) of Ireland was the instrument of a government committed to 'Home Rule' or national autonomy for Ireland. As an agency of state coercion and intelligence-gathering, the police were vital to Britain's attempts to hold on to power in India, especially against the Indian National Congress during the agitational movements of the 1920s and 1930s. In April 1926, the Palestine police force was formally established. The shape of a rapidly rising rate of urban crime laid the major challenge confronting the Kenya Police.
are a few low-ranking officials who have to undertake tiring evening and night shifts in turns. And, with Dunnage, Mussolini's policemen.indd 1 22/08/2012 13:25:05 2 Introduction the exception of the odd heroic spirit, their fatigue manifests itself in forms of discontent (muttering, anonymous notes, etc.). This is the true state of things, without the slightest hint of pessimism.’1 When considering the Questore’s words, allowances should be made for the likelihood that younger-age police officials were being drafted into the military during the period in
1 ‘Cinderella status’: the liberal police and the lure of fascism Mussolini’s policemen The liberal police and the lure of fascism In December 1925 an article published in the police journal, Il magistrato dell’ordine, reflected upon the broader implications of a failed attempt on the life of the fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. The article carried the signature of the Editor-in-Chief, a retired police commissioner, Emilio Saracini. Entitled ‘Long live the Italian police!’, it proclaimed that the ability of the forces of law and order to prevent the outrage
more as policemen and soldiers with the KAR, for whom by 1914 they normally provided half of Nyasaland’s two-battalion strength. 30 Savings from military wages thus became an important part of the Yao domestic economy, particularly from the 1920s when an increasing number of soldiers with nine years’ service obtained exemption from hut tax. In contrast to the situation in the Punjab, land grants were
7 Conclusion: Mussolini’s policemen and the transition to the Republic Mussolini’s policemen Conclusion The evolution of post-war police culture The inhibiting effects of twenty years of dictatorship on processes of democratic renewal in post-war Italy are clearly visible in the police. They were highly suspicious of the new era of freedom which the defeat of fascism hailed and of the risks to public order which it posed. Such suspicions were reinforced by their experiences of the War of Liberation which had been fought against them and by the re-emergence of