In his early teens EUPOL COPPS Head of Operations, Roberto Arcieri, already envisaged he would wear a uniform as a grown-up.

Being born in 1973 and raised in the ancient Grumo Appula, founded in Roman times and part of the Alta Murgia National Park in Southeastern Italy, Roberto grew up observing at close range the difference between good and bad, which translates into the State and its enemies.

The organised crimes generally known as the mafia, was at the time active primarily in the South of the Italian peninsula, yet, moving its tentacles within transnational business and corruption.

Exemplary Italian institutional figures like anti-mafia judges Rocco Chinnici, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, and Carabinieri officers like General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Lt. Col. Russo, Cap. Basile paid with their lives their long-lasting fight on organised crime. They all died in the line of duty to  defend the principles of legality, justice, freedom, equality, and dignity, by opposing the criminal power that threatens democracy.

The ultimate sacrifice of some fellow Italians has been the game changer for Roberto, who picked the right side of the law joining the Italian Carabinieri (one of Italy’s primary law enforcement agencies, distinguished by their military status and broad range of responsibilities both domestically and internationally) at the age of 19.

Being a Carabiniere has meant Roberto to be constantly on the move, either in his country, or abroad. “I was never in the same place for more than four years” says Roberto, who nevertheless managed to raise two children, now young adults, together with his wife.

Roberto, who has the rank of Colonel, joined EUPOL COPPS last year, but he was not new to Palestine, as he was already here working for Carabinieri MIADIT (Missione Addestrativa Italiana) Mission in the framework on the US State Security Coordination (now Office of the Security Coordinator - OSC) coalition.

Prior to that he has worked in various capacities, in different Italian regions fighting common and organized crimes, in international engagements in Bosnia Herzegovina, Eritrea, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Mali and also in Brussels, Belgium, focusing on African issues.

As a EUPOL COPPS Head of Operations, leading colleagues working to support Palestinian justice and civilian security sectors, Roberto feels the experience changes him every day.

The keyword in the Palestinian context is “flexibility” says Roberto, who strives to find solutions to the continuous challenges faced by the Palestinian counterparts the Mission is mandated to support, and for EUPOL COPPS itself.

An approach certainly appropriate given the uncertainty facing Palestine and the wider region at this very moment.