fPerhaps it took someone who fought against the ‘Ndrangheta to address issues such as violence against women. When Alessandra Simone, now questore (or questora, she doesn’t care) of Savona, began, in 1993, to investigate the Piromalli clan, there were many suspects, zero convictions and arrests. With her to head of the Gioia Tauro Flying Squad (Criminalpol of Reggio Calabria), handcuffs and then life sentences arrived. She has always felt like an investigator, therefore, when she arrived in Milan in 2017 and they offered her to deal with “weak subjects” she began to study.
Alessandra Simone, against violence against women
Lawyer, with a master’s degree in criminology, child abuse, psychology of trauma, he had a more scientific than emotional approach. And it worked. The Zeus protocolagainst domestic violence and stalking, started from Milan in 2018 and is now operational in 70 cities, and will increase. But that’s not enough, because women continue to be killed. In the first six months of this year have been sixty, twenty-eight killed by partner or ex.
As a revolutionary form of communication, Alessandra Simone has chosen Another tomorrowdocumentary film by Silvio Soldini and Cristiana Mainardi, a puzzle of stories, some terrible, some with a happy ending. And she accompanies him to Mind Festival (September 1-3, see box on next page) so those who don’t know it yet will discover the “Zeus Protocol”, which perhaps will allow them to have “another tomorrow”.
Alessandra Simone, police station of Savona. She is originally from Reggio Calabria and in Calabria she was head of the homicide and organized crime section.
How has your work changed, from organized crime to domestic violence?
I studied for two years. I’ve tried to understand what the police can do: a lot. I found myself in a whole new world. I was surprised by the sense of guilt women feel, even those attacked by strangers. To summarize, we have a problem. Equality does not exist. Parity means zero feminicides.
What struck you when you met abused women?
I also directed the homicide section of the flying squad. When a person has been murdered, you rely on the technicians: the coroner, the forensic scientist, the experts who will make the body “speak”. But being faced with a raped, abused woman is heartbreaking for the speaker and the listener. See a broken soul. From the stories I learned that, as important as they are, the needs of the investigation must respect the victim’s timing. You have to search, interrogate, check your cell phone, but you also have to use empathy.
Why do so many remain in violent situations?
Many have mixed feelings. They want to leave, but he knows how to get them to stay. Someone feels a bit like a Red Cross nurse: I’ll save him. Someone else thinks: with me it will change. There are those who are afraid and those who don’t want to break up for love, or because they have children. But the phenomenon is transversal, it concerns all social classes and all levels of culture. Femicide is the failure of the system. You arrive when the woman is dead. You have to think about it first. 75-80 percent of feminicides originate from abuse in the family.
The Zeus Protocol against violence against women
And what did you plan to do?
We started with the Eva protocol, which concerns the first intervention, when there was a quarrel in the family (violent, a slap). The idea came to me thanks to an international conference in 2005. Swedish colleagues have developed a strategy that codifies the signals of a risky situation. Today in Italy the interventions flow into an inter-force database, and the information entered in the system remains available. Thus the operators are prepared to intervene and can also forward the report to trigger the Zeus Protocol.
A battle name?
Well yes. Zeus, the father of the gods is the archetype of man who must satisfy his need for control. We have to stop him before he becomes an inveterate abuser. If we do it at the beginning, we can compel him to a therapeutic treatment.
How does it work?
We notify him of the warning, an administrative provision, to order him to stop any form of aggression, even verbal. If he violates it, he will have consequences. The report can start from a neighbor, a nurse, a relative, always with the guarantee of anonymity. Once a warning is given, we make an appointment with the Partner Center (Cipm), specialized in contrasting violence and interpersonal conflicts, and we start him on a treatment. Few shy away from this procedure. Every two to three months the situation is assessed, and once we take charge of these men, we don’t let them go. Relapses, among those who accepted the treatment, were reduced by 90 percent.
Rome, 26 November 2016 Non Una di Meno, national demonstration against male violence against women. (Getty Images)
You have dedicated your golden Ambrogino, the most important award of the city of Milan, to a woman who could not be saved…
To Roberta Priore, murdered in Milan in 2019 by her partner, who then committed suicide in prison. Four days earlier the patrol cars had entered their house for a verbal dispute, two days later there had been another alarm and we had immediately prepared the warning. When we phoned to report it, Roberta had just been killed. So I called the guys from the Milan Anti-Crime Division, which I was managing at the time (there were two when I arrived, they became ten) and I explained that this was the right path. We were heartbroken, but we were there, we would have saved her and we would have saved him too. Two lives. That’s why we have to get there even earlier.
What is wrong?
Considering men only as antagonists. We must re-educate, without diminishing the seriousness of the facts, but making them understood. We must secure women, help them report, offer support. Today, fortunately, there are no more policemen who tell the abused wife: go home and make peace with your husband. But if we don’t work on the man too, we’ll only have saved that woman and he’ll be able to look for more. We see this with stalkers. They think they are right, they don’t understand the invasion of privacy. They say: I was always worrying about her, I sent roses, messages, gifts, what’s wrong with that?
Can you be optimistic?
I’m a policewoman and I’m from Calabria, so I’m distrustful, yet I manage to be optimistic. The film, from which a beautiful friendship was born with Cristiana Mainardi, who has done an extraordinary research and writing job, is a hymn to hope. They talk a lot. There’s the one who saw her mother murdered, there’s the father who killed one of the two daughters (and wanted to do the same with the other), yet none of her remained still in pain. If we build a system of trust, if the newspapers stop making headlines like “Killed for love”, if the doctor, the teacher, the neighbor don’t look the other way, things can change. This isn’t family business, it’s everyone’s business.
Many TV series tell stories like the ones you meet every day, for example Law and Order-Special Victims Unit. Do you find any similarities?
I see them very little. Off duty, I seek a minimum distance from my world. I like Clint Eastwood movies. And yes, I prefer French comedies.
The Mind Festival
In Sarzana, the Savona police headquarters converse with the authors of the film Another tomorrow.
Alessandra Simone, questora of Savona, will participate in the meeting during the XX edition of the Festival of the Mind of Sarzana, Saturday 2 September. The director of the docufilm will dialogue with her Another Tomorrow, Silvio Soldini and Cristiana Mainardi, screenwriter and producer.
The Festival della Mente (September 1-3), directed by Benedetta Marietti, is dedicated to creativity and the birth of ideas. Massimiliano Valerii, director general of Censis opens. Among the guests: scientists Guido Tonelli, Ersilia Vaudo, Sabrina Speich, Nazareth Castellanos; the art historian Martina Mazzotta; the psychoanalysts Vittorio Lingiardi and Massimo Recalcati; the philosopher Gabriella Caramore with the immunologist Antonella Viola. The program also includes a section for children and teenagers with 26 appointments. For information: festivaldellamente.it
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