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Rome police 'skive off' New Year's Eve as 83 per cent call in sick

03 January 2015 08:02 (UTC +04:00)

The mass desertion of officers is now being investigated by the city council as well as the national government.

Ignazio Marino, the mayor of Rome, wrote on Facebook: "They didn't manage to ruin the party, but those responsible will have to be held to account."

His deputy, Luigi Nieri, said the rate of absenteeism was "unacceptable" and could have endangered the public's safety on what is traditionally one of the busiest nights of the year.

Italy's reformist prime minister, Matteo Renzi, who spent most of 2014 calling for a shake-up of employment laws and a less rigid job market, was not amused.

"I read that 83 per cent of police did not work 'because of illness' on December 31. This is why we will change the rules of public sector employment in 2015," he wrote in a tweet.

The municipal police, known in Italian as "vigili", denied that they were being lazy, saying their absence was part of a broader dispute over pay, conditions and not enough personnel.

"There are 5,900 of us and there should be 9,400. With these numbers we can no longer provide a 24-hour service, seven days a week," said Stefano Giannini, the head of the police union.

Note that, some 600,000 revellers took to the streets of Rome on December 31 to celebrate the New Year.