Italy Begins Military Effort to Quell Crime – NYTimes.com
This story from the NY Times interested me very much because we had begun to notice an increased police presence in Italy’s public squares. We had always marveled in the past at how large events such as Umbria Jazz in Perugia – with streets overflowing with people — had such a small visible police presence. At Umbria Jazz 08 this July, we noticed that there were much more police present in the streets and also remarked that there was much less vagrancy; unorganized, talentless busking; and an overall feeling of a festival that had decided to impose a little “law and order”. Then came our dinner on the main square in Perugia in early August just after this article came out where there was a truck from the Forestry Service and soldiers enjoying the scene but also making their presence felt. Maria just returned from Rome where she noticed what seemed like an increased police presence. All that being said, as veterans of Post 9-11 New York with its body armored, machine gun carrying officers, the increased presence of officers on the streets doesn’t seem all that strange or uncomfortable.
