Trapani: State Police awareness campaign THIS IS NOT LOVE

If he blackmails you… it’s not love. If he threatens you or your children… it’s not love. If he isolates you, humiliates you, offends you… it’s not love. If he stalks you with obsessive emails and text messages… it’s not love. If he takes you violently when you don’t want him to… it’s not love. If he asks you out on a last date… it’s not love. If he kills you… it’s not love.

On the occasion of international day for the elimination of violence against women, which is celebrated Monday 25 November 2024, the State Police has chosen to stand by women with the campaign “THIS IS NOT LOVE” which provides, in all Italian provinces, campers, buses, gazebos and other meeting moments aimed at breaking the isolation and pain of victims of gender violence, offering the support of a team of specialized operators, mostly composed of women and made up of specialized police personnel, doctors, psychologists and representatives of anti-violence centers.

An idea, that of the information campaign organized by the State Police, aimed at promoting the culture of respect and awareness with the purpose of prevent and combat all forms of mistreatment, abuse and femicide.

This type of initiative has allowed us to contact thousands of people every year, mostly women, spreading information on protection and intervention tools in situations of violence and stalking, who otherwise might have remained caged in the pain of domestic walls.

The Trapani Police Headquarters also intended to organize several initiatives in the province: during the course of today Monday 25 November, in Trapani, in the very central Torrearsa Street, has been prepared a mobile garrison, consisting of a gazebo of the State Police, which will welcome all those who intend to acquire information on the topic of gender violence. Citizens will have, in particular, the opportunity to interact with a team of specialized operators, formed by personnel of the State Police, on the front line in the prevention and fight against this criminal phenomenon.

On this occasion, the event was attended by Trapani Police Chief Giuseppe Felice Peritore 12.00 hours, which referred to the application of the warning measure, a measure within its own jurisdiction.

During the events a information handbook, useful for taking stock of the phenomenon, with the data in the possession of the Police Forces, on the activity of repressing crimes of abuse, stalking, sexual violence and murder, as well as on the prevention activity promoted by the State Police to contribute, through the tools of information, education and listening, to a cultural change on a topic that represents a fundamental indicator of civilization of a society.

The decline in typical crimes in recent years (from feminicides to sexual violence, from mistreatment in the family to stalking) does not stop the prevention effort: not only because the absolute number of victims continues to be unacceptable, but because the experience of the police and associations, which have been working on these issues for many years, shows the existence of a "submerged" part that too often does not translate into a complaint.

A daily life made of morbid attentions, aggressive and intimidating behaviors that are read as an expression of passionate love and harmless jealousy, even by mothers, sisters and friends, but which is often the sad script of a growing violence that is fueled by isolation.