The four agents that comprise the Minor and Family Unit of the Local Police (UMEF) of Arrecife, within the framework of the Tutor Agent program, have been deployed around the educational centers of the city, with the aim of reinforcing the protection of minors in the capital of Lanzarote. Since the beginning of this month, they have been acting to prevent the presence of adolescents in betting shops and thus curb gambling addiction.
"With this deployment, work will continue on the specialization of the Local Police staff," remarked the mayor of Arrecife and head of the Local Police, Yonathan de León, who announced that he plans to assign new agents to this unit soon. The assigned agents will work mainly on the prevention of actions that may affect minors such as bullying, drugs or the responsible use of technologies.
Yonathan de León promoted the deployment of this new program, "which has given good preventive results in Spanish cities where it already exists." As he explained this Wednesday, "these agents, in close collaboration with the management of educational centers, and the minors' team of the Social Welfare Area of the City Council, will focus their work on the prevention of bullying, physical violence, family abuse, or harassment of these minors, among other interventions, in the field of child protection and prevention in the school environment."
For her part, the Councilor for Social Welfare of the Arrecife City Council, Maite Corujo, underlined her continued commitment to the well-being and protection of children and adolescents and stated that "for us, the protection of minors and the creation of the Tutor Agent is essential. Now not only will we be able to continue working in a coordinated manner with the Local Police both in schools and in homes, but also, with this figure within schools, we will have the opportunity to detect certain situations from minute one and prevent them from becoming entrenched or worsening".
In this sense, she stressed that the Tutor Agent Program will provide guidance, support and resources to address the challenges that may arise in the school and social environment and highlights that these agents will play a fundamental role as figures of reference and mediation, "collaborating closely with schools, families and social services to ensure a safe environment."
In addition, the consistory has reported that the Educational Community, and its management teams, are directly aware of this program and its deployment, since the City Council has made a presentation to the directors of the educational centers in the capital of Lanzarote.
The capital City Council approved the deployment of these Tutor Agents last week, becoming the first municipality in the province of Las Palmas to have this team within the Local Police forces. In the Canary Islands, along with Arrecife, there is another municipality in Tenerife that has created it.
