On New Year's Eve over 6.500 soldiers, of which 2.300 in Rome alone for the Jubilee of Mercy, will continue their service in collaboration with the Police, as part of the Operation Safe Roads, for the control and patrolling of the main metropolitan areas, the surveillance of sensitive targets, interchange nodes and main railway stations in the country. Abroad, the Army also has about 2.600 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Kosovo, Somalia and Mali, equal to about 60% of the overall defense commitment in out-of-area missions.
From the beginning of the Operation Safe Roadsin August 2008, over 14.700 people have been arrested to date; about 8.100 were arrested and 10.200 reported on the loose. Checks were also carried out on more than 2 million and 120 thousand people and 1 million and 120 thousand vehicles. About 12.500 vehicles, 670 weapons and over 2 tons of narcotic substances seized.
During the year, significant was the support that the Army provided to the Police for the security of the EXPO 2015 site in Milan, from 1 May to 31 October. The world exhibition was visited by over 21 million people and in these six months the military checked over 45.200 vehicles (all the logistical supplies of the various Expo pavilions), carried out 34 arrests and 25 arrests, seized 17 weapons and over 200 items counterfeit.
The Army, in these six months, has ensured a "strong" but at the same time always discreet and friendly presence.
Thanks to the dual capacity of the departments, the Army intervened quickly in support of populations hit by public disasters and in cases of public utility at the request of the competent prefectures. Olbia, Liguria and the provinces of Piacenza and Reggio Calabria are some of the places where the Army in cooperation with the Civil protection, quickly intervened and removed hundreds of cubic meters of mud and rubble, restored the roads compromised by heavy floods and rescued citizens.
During the year, the Army bombers carried out over 2.100 reclamation interventions of explosive devices and remnants of war on the national territory (almost 40.000 in the last 15 years).
