My son lost his passport on the bus and
went to the police. After my experience with them, I was left with a terrible
impression. Here’s why.
I
found my son forlorn in the Police Station at the Piazza del Collegio in Rome.
The police spent an age filing a simple
report. In Britain, the report would have been done in a jiffy.
The report was on scrap paper and in Italian. This police report was my only
means of communicating my problem, as most of the officers couldn’t speak
English.
However, one officer spoke decent
English. She told us that my son’s bag had been taken to ‘lost property’ by the
bus driver who found it. When I asked where this lost property office was, I
was simply told, ‘ask anyone. It’s in the main terminal station.’ I wanted the address,
but she never gave one. I therefore assumed there was a big lost property
office in the central bus station in Rome.
We went to the Termini but there was no
lost property there.
I eventually found out from a small
ticket booth at the other end of the station that the lost property for Rome
was in a grotty little station outside of Rome called Ostiense. It had by then
closed. It was 1pm on Friday.
The lost property office in Ostiense is
not in the Termini as I thought, but happened to be a 20 minute walk from our
hotel. The horrid little place was shut until Monday so we had to wait. When it
eventually opened, the police officer looked at me with disdain and announced,
‘no bag here!’ She didn’t even pick up the phone or make an effort to help.
There seems to be a lack of communication between the police offices in Rome.
They simply don’t seem to speak to each other.
I returned to the Piazza del Collegio
police station and was met with a fat Italian smoking a cigar in the foyer. He
couldn’t speak English so I showed him a copy of the police report. He spent
ages reading this report which was in his own language.
He led us into the station upstairs and
we were met with the same lack of listening skills as before. No one checked
their computer for our earlier report and no one picked up the phone to call
Ostiense. I was then given an
ad-hoc form to give to the embassy as though a fresh report. I kept
telling them I had already reported the missing bag, but no one listened.
I never found out where this ‘lost
property’ office was from the police. My son was by then greatly distressed.
I returned every morning to Ostiense to
be met with the same ‘no bag here!’ I flew home without our
bag.
I have since barred my son’s phone and debit
card, neither of which has shown activity. I suspect they languish somewhere in
a Roman storage place waiting to be claimed. I firmly believe they have not
been stolen.
Whenever I see a Polizzio car. I
consider myself lucky that the British police are more advanced than the
Romans.
Lesson
learnt
Don’t assume the Roman police have the
efficiency of the British Police. Their resources and training appear lacking.
Lack of funding equals early office
closures and basic resources.
Look after yourself. Don’t assume anyone
in a big city will, even an official.
Read
all my articles on Rome on my Rome
a Survival Kit
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| Police Station in the Piazza del Collegio |
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| The Termini Rome: no lost property to be found |
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| The grubby Ostiense in Rome |
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| Poor funding equals deserted kiosks in Rome |
