The Councillor for Public Safety, José Marcet has announced that Benidorm Council will, for the first time in eight years be inviting applications to fill 15 vacancies within the Local Police force. Once the 2015 budget has been approved and authorization from Central Government granted the new officers will start with immediate effect – the last time they recruited was back in 2007 and since that time 19 officers have retired!
Local Police are employed by the Town Council here, which currently has 194 personnel, of which 17 are interns. According to Fransisco Angel Gonzalez, spokesperson for the SPPLB – The Professional Union of Police Officers and Firemen, the local force are short of between 40 – 50 officers and that in reality they need to recruit a at least a further 15.
He said that at times only 25 officers are actively patrolling the streets... perhaps they should stop using them as glorified lollypop ladies outside schools 4 times a day! You will always see them directing and stopping traffic in the morning when the children are starting school, then twice at lunch time – when they leave then return 2.5 hours later and finally at the end of the day. In my opinion a waste of police resources – a great time to carry out a crime as most will be busy helping children cross roads.
In addition to the 15 vacancies, they will also be recruiting a further ten to strengthen the beach patrols in a similar way to what they had last Summer. However, this year they plan to introduce them in time for Easter and then continue until the end of the Summer season, so extending the contract to 6 months instead of 4 – last year they only started mid June. You could see them patrolling up and down the promenade on foot – something of a shock for many, or on Segway's in their Summer uniform of shorts and trainers. It is important and reassuring to the many holidaymakers which flock here to enjoy the golden beaches every year.
Yesterday the Local Police took delivery of five brand new Honda motorcycles to replace ones are which are over eleven years old – and a further five will be replaced shortly. The 700cc Deauville model was purchased through a local dealership at a cost of 59,591€ which came out of the 2014 budget. The force will also take delivery of a fleet of 13 new cars, although on a leasing scheme at a further cost of 250,000€.
