By now it should be obvious, if not monotonous, that the papal police, in their form, functions, and efficiency, played a major role in the political life of Bologna during the Risorgimento. In a variety of ways, the history of Bologna's police confirms the recent, but generally accepted, belief that the police system of any given society is determined as much by political and social influences as by juridical conceptions of deviance and criminality. These influences are especially prominent in Bologna's case because the police were imposed on the province, first by Napoleon and then by Consalvi, as part of a general political settlement that destroyed traditional patterns of privilege and power. By definition, continental police had myriad administrative functions and extensive political responsibilities that placed them squarely on the line between sovereign and subjects. Consalvi thus simultaneously saw the police as a vital organ of a centralized bureaucracy, as a force for political conformity, and as a means of combatting crime: roles that constantly intermingled and occasionally clashed within his general conception of government. The Carabinieri as the arma politica, the police as the agenti politici, and the weekly police report as the bollettino politico all symbolized the ultimate identity between the modern administrative monarchy and the enforcers of its laws.

For Italy this was a novelty introduced by Napoleon; and the history of Bologna's police justly points out the enormous impact of his intervention on the peninsula.