Italian National Police - Polizia Di Stato

the italian national police force (polizia di stato) is one of the police forces of italy with a current strength of 99.630 operators. it is primarily tasked with the maintenance of public safety and security and is headed by the chief of police, director general of the department of public security (pubblica sicurezza) of the italian ministry of the interior. the polizia di stato is also responsible for maintaining public order (crowd control), highway patrol, policing railways, airports, borders (together with the guardia di finanza) as well as certain waterways, and assisting local police forces. founded in 1852, it was a military corp until 1981 when law 121 converted the police to a civilian corp, in contrast to the arma dei carabinieri, which is a military force charged with police duties under the authority of both the ministry of defence and ministry of the interior.