The Badalona City Council (Barcelonès Nord) has hired private security guards who provide this service in the Casa de la Villa and the municipal buildings of the former Central Bank of Badalona and the Viver. In this way, the six members of the Urban Police who until now carried out this static surveillance service are incorporated into carrying out the work of the local police.
On the other hand, the new contract also includes the incorporation of personnel to control access to the offices of the Basic Social Care Services (SBAS) in the neighborhoods of La Salut, Llefià and Sant Roc, with the aim of improving the conditions of work of the people who serve the public in these offices.
The mayor of Badalona, Xavier Garcia Albiol, has highlighted that "this is one more step by this municipal government in taking emergency measures that allow us to have more police on the street and so that they can carry out public security work for which they are fully qualified.”
Albiol has also responded to incipient criticism: "This is not privatizing security," he stressed, "it is guaranteeing more surveillance and security on the street, which is what the neighbors need." The mayor added that "we continue working to provide the Urban Guard with the human resources that a city like Badalona needs, proof of this is that tomorrow 23 new agents will join and we have opened a call to increase the staff with another 46 officers."
