The Case of the Murderous Local Police Officer and Suicides: The Need to Strengthen Prevention, Oversight, and Psychological Support in the View of Marco Agostini
Abstract: The homicide case involving an officer of the Venice Local Police, while remaining a matter attributable to individual responsibility —as is the case with all criminal acts involving police forces— together with the alarming number of suicides affecting all uniforms indiscriminately, raises significant questions about internal oversight mechanisms within police forces and about organizational shortcomings related to the prevention of deviant behavior, the assessment of psychophysical fitness, and staff support. Through an interview with the Venice Local Police Chief, the article offers an ethical and institutional reflection aimed at identifying possible regulatory and organizational improvements designed to strengthen citizens’ trust in the institutions responsible for public safety.
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The case involving an officer of the Venice Local Police, accused of killing a twenty-five-year-old man in Malcontenta di Mira (Venice), has brought back to the center of public debate the issue of individual responsibility and internal oversight within both local and national police forces.
While investigations by the judicial authorities are still ongoing to clarify the dynamics of the events and establish criminal responsibility, the episode raises questions that cannot be ignored regarding the functioning of organizational structures and the mechanisms for preventing deviant behavior. Although this is clearly an exceptional event attributable to the choices and actions of an individual, it calls for a broader reflection on the ability of institutions to detect signs of distress, to intervene promptly, and to ensure that the exercise of such sensitive functions always takes place in accordance with ethical principles and the rule of law. The issue concerns not only the use of firearms, but also personnel selection, internal oversight, psychological support, and the role of collective responsibility within police forces as a whole.
Added to this is the alarming sequence of suicides within law enforcement, affecting all branches indiscriminately, which makes it even more urgent to intervene through preliminary assessment tools and permanent psychological support systems.
On these issues, Ethica Societas interviewed Marco Agostini, General Commander of the Venice Local Police and head of the force to which Riccardo Salvagno—the officer accused of the serious homicide—belonged. The aim is to offer readers an informed and non-emotional perspective on the case, going beyond news reporting to understand what tools are currently available, what can be improved, and which organizational and regulatory choices may help strengthen citizens’ trust in the institutions responsible for public safety.
Question: What happened, and were there any warning signs?
“The events reported in the media, involving an officer of the Venice Local Police, Riccardo Salvagno, are still under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Carabinieri, the police force in charge of the case.
The facts are clear: the officer—apparently using his service weapon, despite lawfully owning a personal firearm—killed a foreign citizen with a drug addiction after abducting him with the complicity of another foreign individual, currently a fugitive. The victim was taken to open countryside, where a single fatal shot was fired.
During the post-arrest judicial interrogation, the suspect essentially admitted the act, but provided a radically different motive from that initially hypothesized by investigators in connection with drug trafficking. He described a possible case of sexual blackmail linked to frequenting disreputable nightclubs—a version that may even be credible, but which obviously does not alter either the gravity of the facts or the officer’s criminal responsibility.
With regard to this specific episode, there were no clear warning signs. However, in the preceding months the officer had been absent from duty, citing a depressive crisis related to poor relationships within the unit where he worked. For this reason, the Command initially reassigned him to the operations room and later to guard duty, after he was caught attempting to misuse our video surveillance system to ‘check’ a nightclub where the victim worked, as well as a woman with whom the officer had, or had previously had, a relationship.
These elements, however, did not suggest an outcome as dramatic as what later occurred, but merely led the Command to assess the individual as unreliable and temperamentally difficult—an eventuality that, unfortunately, can occur in a complex organization such as ours, which includes nearly 600 officers.
Moreover, the individual had joined us relatively recently, after being hired and having worked in two provincial capital police departments in the Veneto region, following a transfer exchange with another officer who needed to move closer to his residence.”
Question: Criminals exist in all police forces. What can be done, particularly in Local Police, to prevent such cases from recurring?
“Episodes involving criminal individuals within police forces, including Local Police, can occur. However, it would be advisable—subject to appropriate legislative provision—to adopt organizational countermeasures by establishing an ‘internal affairs’ service tasked with verifying citizens’ reports concerning staff behavior, as well as conducting confidential investigations into living conditions, lifestyle, and off-duty conduct that may serve as indicators of potential abuse.
Clearly, this must be provided for by law: anyone who chooses to serve as a local police officer must accept being subject to oversight not only regarding on-duty behavior, but also aspects of private life, because this is not an ordinary municipal employee, but someone who exercises powers that no other employee of equivalent rank possesses.
This approach faces significant organizational challenges: while it may be feasible in large departments, it is far more difficult in small services and units. In this case as well, the Region could play a supportive role by establishing a regional inspection office for Local Police, possibly organized at the provincial level.
Equally fundamental is so-called ‘social control’ by colleagues, who must understand that reporting anomalous behavior to superiors does not mean ‘informing’ on a colleague, but rather helping to prevent critical situations. In this specific case, that mechanism failed, except after the events had already occurred.
There is also a need to give concrete application to the Code of Ethics for Police adopted by the Council of Europe over twenty years ago, which contains guidelines of the utmost relevance.
Following the incident, we initiated a process of internal self-assessment to determine what additional measures could be adopted, including in coordination with other regional departments, as has already occurred over the past two years in the area of training.”
Question: Should anything change regarding the assignment of service weapons?
“Honestly, I believe that the use of the service weapon was incidental, and that the decision to use it instead of the lawfully owned personal firearm may have stemmed from a misguided attempt to conceal evidence of the crime.
That said, this does not mean the issue of verifying the psychophysical fitness of individuals authorized to carry weapons should not be addressed.
I believe the Local Police should be fully armed, with officers permitted to carry their weapon nationwide without requiring a separate firearms license, and that all regions should establish medical-psychological commissions to verify fitness requirements. This is because Local Police do not have their own healthcare service, and it would be unreasonable to further burden public health forensic services.
The Region could fund and establish a dedicated healthcare structure for Local Police, responsible for medical examinations at hiring, ongoing verification of psychophysical fitness, and occupational health services, given that this personnel has needs different from those of ordinary municipal employees.
Large departments might be able to self-organize, but a single regional structure—or one funded by the Region—with specialists including psychiatrists and psychologists would certainly be more effective.”
Question: Considering also suicide cases, should psychological assessment be introduced by law? How, and in which cases?
“Psychological assessment is already possible today by providing for it in departmental regulations. We introduced it in 2017 as part of medical examinations for verifying psychophysical fitness, and following the provisions of the ‘Pact for a Safe Venice,’ these assessments are conducted by selection psychologists of the State Police.
Unfortunately, the officer responsible for the homicide, having joined through a mobility exchange, was not subjected to such assessments, which clearly represents an area for improvement.
I also believe that all armed personnel should undergo psychophysical evaluations every three to five years, using a specialized healthcare service—possibly at the regional level as proposed above—and that such evaluations should be anticipated, without the need for specific justification, whenever the Commander deems it appropriate.
Finally, I must note that, having observed a certain psychological fragility among the youngest generations—who seem to struggle with accepting failure and difficulty—it would be appropriate to establish an internal psychological assistance service within the Command, pairing a psychologist with the work already carried out by the chaplain, who in our case is a permanent deacon and a former Commissioner of the department for many years.”
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