Italy's carabinieri patrol Shanghai streets
Visiting Italian police, or carabinieri, patrol Lujiazui's core tourist area with their Chinese counterparts on Wednesday morning.
Chinese police introduce their way of working to their Italian colleagues.
Italian officers are shown the equipment on a Chinese SWAT police vehicle parked near the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Two Italian police officers started to patrol Shanghai streets with their Chinese counterparts on Wednesday.
From now until July 5, they will be seen in the most popular tourist spots in Shanghai such as Lujiazui, the Bund, Yuyuan Garden, Xintiandi, Jing’an Temple and Zhujiajiao and also traffic hubs such as Pudong International Airport.
During the patrols, the Italian police — carabinieri — will watch how Chinese police react to alerts and help foreign tourists in Shanghai. Both groups will also exchange experiences in police work.
The two Italian officers are among eight on the third joint patrol of Chinese and Italian police in China. The others are patrolling Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou.
They will not carry firearms or weapons but will assist Chinese police with advice.
Ruben Lupi spent 10 days patrolling Xi’an last year on the same joint patrol program, and this is his second time patrolling in China.
“I expect to learn about law enforcement, police operations and the safety situation in Shanghai and share what I learn with my colleagues in Italy,” he said. “My impression so far is that Shanghai is a very safe city, and I love it.”
Patrolling along with Lupi is Annamaria Pettini, who works with Interpol in Italy.
“We will be able to compare our job in Italy with that of our colleagues in China, and I believe we will learn a lot of things every day,” she said.
Yang Jiong, vice head of the international cooperation division of the command department of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, said the joint patrols will potentially lead to wider cooperation in law enforcement between Italian and Chinese police.
“We expect that it will increase our mutual understanding and trust in police work,” she said.
