Arrecife Local Police officers recently prevented an attempted squatting in a home in a neighborhood of the capital. According to a statement from the capital's City Council, officers received a phone call alerting them to a possible squatting.
At approximately 8:30 PM, officers arrived at the residence and spoke with relatives of the owner, who stated that the property belonged to a deceased relative and that they made periodic visits to prevent the home from showing signs of abandonment. According to them, upon arriving at the property, they detected that there were three people inside and requested police intervention.
Once at the location, officers found two men and one woman, who stated that they believed the property was abandoned. The officers informed these individuals that they were committing a minor offense of trespassing and would be reported for this reason.
The individuals identified, with the mediation of the officers, voluntarily left the residence after collecting their belongings, without any incidents occurring. Likewise, the Local Police made the corresponding offer of legal actions to the requesting family members, who indicated that they would file a complaint with the National Police Corps once a family member took charge of closing the dwelling and verifying that nothing was missing from inside, given that there were personal belongings of the family.
The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, directly responsible for the Local Police, has deployed a specific Local Police service to prevent property squatting in this municipality.
According to the city council, the Local Police of Arrecife (Lanzarote) has an "anti-squatting direct line": 682 27 14 66, a service that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, where citizens can report signs of illegal occupation and act within the first 24 hours, reinforcing citizen security against this problem, with speed being key to stopping squatting before it consolidates. This initiative by the Arrecife City Council has made it possible to stop the occupation of nearly 25 properties (one of them in the San Francisco Javier neighborhood with 14 homes). During these weeks in December, two occupations have been stopped
