Meloni thanks police ahead of high-impact security operations in Rome and Milan

I would of course like to thank Minister Piantedosi, Prefect Pisani and [senior State Police official] Niglio, who has welcomed us to the historic headquarters of the Rome police patrol unit. I also wish to greet [senior State Police official] De Simone and the officers in Milan, as well as the local police officers in Milan who are attending via video link.

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I am here to say thank you, personally, on behalf of the Government and on behalf of Italy, for what is a difficult, often behind the scenes and at times perhaps frustrating job, but one that has very few equals in terms of value. Look, the most valuable thing we have is our freedom: that freedom cannot exist without security, and that security cannot exist without you.

Through your work, you guarantee citizens that freedom. We take that freedom for granted: a shopkeeper's freedom to be able to pull up the shutters without being robbed, or a young woman's freedom to be able to go out and have fun tonight without being attacked.

We consider such freedoms a given but they are not, because there are people whose job it is to safeguard and build them, and I believe that is worth remembering. I believe it is worth remembering, especially at a time like this, when it is often said in the public debate that not enough is done on security, or even at times that nothing seems to be done at all, right?

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The ones who say so clearly don't know much about your work. As we know, this is normal, unfortunately, because if a criminal gets away and goes on to commit a crime, then it makes the news but, if you stop them , and you stop hundreds , there are hundreds of crimes that aren't committed because someone has done their job, and those are never talked about.

A falling tree always makes much more noise than a growing forest, but there is a forest that grows and that is you, building and defending it. Every time you stop a criminal, knowing no one will say thank you because no one will report on you stopping that criminal, well, you should be proud of what you are building because this is also what community is all about.

People know we are a community also because there are people like you who are at their service, because they know they are not alone, because they know there is someone they can turn to, someone willing to put themselves at risk for them. I therefore wish to say thank you, and not only personally, before you go out on another 'high impact' operation.

You know better than I do that these are not normal, let's say 'routine', operations; they are very complex, and we have carried out many of them in what has now been almost four years. I would therefore like to express my thanks once again to Prefect Pisani, Minister Piantedosi and all the senior officials who have been involved in their organisation.

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