Freedom Folks: A Lesson In Citizen Policing

From Italy of all places!

Source: Slate

Anton Faur is a migrant pickpocket. When he recently showed up for work in Venice, his hopes were high: Every year, around 12 million tourists throng and jostle through the city's narrow streets. This time, though, the target-rich environment didn't bear fruit. In just five days, the 17-year-old Romanian was arrested twice. "Venice is beautiful, but not for work," he complained as police booked him.
But it wasn't the police who caught him. Faur was nabbed both times by a civilian antipickpocket patrol called Cittadini Non Distratti, or Undistracted Citizens. Members, who call themselves "Citizens," walk around Venice looking for pickpockets. As thievery spikes during Carnival, when tipsy tourists mob the streets, the group increases patrols. The Cittadini Non Distratti look for a number of giveaways. Most pickpockets are men, they travel in small division-of-labor teams behind tourists, they stop when tourists stop, and their eyes concentrate on vulnerable pockets and bags—not gondolas and pretty buildings. The presence of a teenager is another clue (minors risk lighter punishment). Sudden distractions are an even bigger tip-off: directions sought by a map-wielding questioner, food spilled on a tourist by an apologetic stranger, a heated argument that diverts attention.
More than 200 Venetians have paid a nominal fee for a Cittadini Non Distratti membership card (considerably fewer walk regular beats). The group's cat-and-mouse game is legal, as long as members are unarmed and grab suspects only after they've slipped a hand into another's pocket. They must then call the cops immediately.

I'm a big fan of citizen's taking control of their safety. it goes on...

Police Officer Gianni Franzoi, head of Venice's street-crime unit, fields most of those calls—a handful every day. The police were initially leery of what they thought might be a vigilante group targeting foreigners (in Venice, 96 percent of arrested pickpockets come from outside the European Union). But the police soon warmed up. "After a while they realized we were doing things in a civic way, not because of racism," says member Franco Dei Rossi, a street artist who on one recent day jumped out from behind his easel four times to foil thefts. Says Franzoi: "They're sharp, they can recognize suspicious people." Franzoi, who complains of being understaffed, is proud of his "precious" volunteers.

City Hall is not. The city has refused Cittadini Non Distratti's requests for official recognition and logistical support. "It's do-it-yourself justice; it's a negative gunslinger culture," says Giuseppe Caccia, until recently Venice's deputy mayor for social affairs. That remark belies what is likely a greater concern: embarrassment. City Hall officials privately acknowledge that the para-police group is bad PR, leading some to think that the city can't adequately protect Venice's lifeblood—its tourists.

This government at it's essence. Are they concerned that people are being fleeced? No!
Are they concerned that their citizens might be in danger? No!

What are they concerned about...

Their image! How it plays in the paper. Does this remind you of anything? The Minutemen perhaps?

Now my favorite bit... (emphasis mine)

The Cittadini couldn't care less about damaging City Hall's image. "The government isn't efficient, so as a citizen you rebel," says Flavio Gastaldi, who works in a souvenir shop called La Gondola near Saint Mark's Square, a favorite spot for pickpockets. According to a city official, pickpocketing is down by half from last year's level.

We used to be this way, as a nation. Now stupid people spit on the Minutemen when they are the only ones trying to keep us safe. Our government isn't, the media isn't. So it comes down to the citizen to stand up and do what government refuses to do.

I'll leave you with this...