A man taketh, the man runeth

The enjoyable thing about Rome is wondering what new things she will show you. Today I saw my first glimpse of the efficient Italian justice system. It begins in a piazza. Large fountain in the center, blue sky, children playing, and birds singing. You get the picture. The camera pans the scene, then zooms in on three men struggling near the fountain. One of the men is holding the other man's hand in a rather torturous manner. The kind of move you pull on a sibling so that they have to return what they stole from you. Although my Italian is spotchy, this appears to be exactly what happened. One man pleading with his capture that he promises to return what he took if only he were to free his had. Another man, the interrogator, confiscating the captor's bag and refusing to negotiate with the accused. So now we have two men performing their own street justice on one bon-a-fide Italian criminal. I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty. Well the interrogator has finally had enough arguing with the criminal, so he decides to contact the professionals. Dial 113 (loosely translated as 911).

"Good morning, Polizia."
"Good morning, my friend and I have temporarily detained a criminal. Could you please assist?"
"Of course, could you please tell me your location?"
"We are at the lovely fountain in the piazza."
"Oh...you are quite right it is lovely. Now would you prefer I dispatch an officer in black pants with red stripes, or an officer in blue pants with black stripes?"
"Beh...let me ask him whom he would prefer arrest him...yes...yes...Sir, do the officers with blue pants wear berets?"

While one can only speculate what is going on with the police, the criminal convinces his captor to free his hand. Now the criminal is pleading to have his bag returned. Of course neither of the victims are so inclined to comply. The victim begs again, while carefully inching his way closer to the bottom of the fountain. And as you suspect, he bolts. Now watching two irate Italian men who can't run chase a criminal down the street screaming and hollering is quite entertaining. As for the police, I am still waiting for the ones' with stripes to arrest the dog which keeps defecating on my stoop.