The mayor, Xavier Garcia Albiol, has met with the commands of the Urban Guard to analyze the security device of the festival of Sant Joan and has been interested in the state of health of five agents who were injured in intervening in a fight " between two clans" during the night. On the other hand, he proposes using private surveillance to be able to get agents out into the streets, who now carry out surveillance in municipal buildings.
The mayor of Badalona, Xavier Garcia Albiol, has advanced today that, in accordance with the commands of the Urban Guard, the local police officers who monitor municipal offices and buildings will be relieved by private security personnel. The objective is to be able to allocate the members of the Urban Guard to patrol the streets of the city and to do citizen security work.
Another notable issue in which the mayor has influenced is the "unpresentable" situation with the arrival of summer, since during July and August, half of the staff of the Guàrdia Urbana is on vacation. "This cannot be -he asserted- and vacations must be reconsidered" a need that he will negotiate with the unions. "It cannot be that at a time when there are more people on the street, we have half the police force." If the workforce, according to the mayor, "is already limited, only half of them need to take vacations," which can generate "a very serious problem." What he assured that "I will not do" in reference to the dispute over the collection of overtime "is to make them work on vacation and then not pay them."
"In the face of problems, solutions" the mayor stressed to the heads of the Urban Guard, who have made a series of proposals such as "the replacement of surveillance agents at municipal facilities with private security" with which they will be able to have more agents on the streets. "According to the police commanders, we will explore this new formula," Albiol stated.
Albiol also had an impact on a problem that is repeated on the beaches, such as the fact that continuous anti-civic activities are held, such as the fact that they come to camp with tents. "The beach is not a campsite" he said, for which he assured that this type of action will be limited and coverage will be given to the actions of the Guàrdia Urbana in this regard.
The mayor, accompanied by the Councilor for Citizen Security, Juan Manuel Ruiz, has made this announcement after meeting this afternoon at the Turó d'en Caritg Urban Police station with the police commanders on the one hand, to evaluate the Sant Joan device which he has described as positive thanks to the increase in troops assigned, due to the lower number of incidents and a lower balance of damage, such as, for example, a reduction in the number of containers that were burned, about seven "when last year was the double".
In the meantime, the mayor has assured: "we will take all the urgent measures possible to have more police on the streets, we will reinforce the number of agents on the streets, replacing the local police officers who monitor municipal spaces and provide services static by private security guards and we will assign the agents to carry out the public security jobs for which they are fully qualified”. "This is not privatizing security," the mayor stressed, "it is trying to have more surveillance and security on the street, which is what the residents need"
