The spokesman for the Unified Association of the Civil Guard (AUGC) in the Canary Islands, Juan Couce, has asked the General Directorate of the Benemérita and the Ministry of the Interior to provide Taser guns to the agents of Lanzarote to face situations such as the latest aggression against two police officers and several residents at the San Bartolomé festivities.
"Currently all the guns that exist and all the qualified personnel are in the Command of the Citizen Security Unit", based in Gran Canaria, and which moves to Lanzarote and Fuerteventura when there are major events. In addition, Couce explains that "more agents are not qualified to use Taser guns because Madrid does not send cartridges necessary for the practices and thus be able to obtain the title."
In this way, AUGC requests that of the four Civil Guard barracks in Lanzarote, each one has between one and two Taser guns and that the agents are trained in their use.
The union argues that criminals "when they see a Taser gun, lower the rate of alteration to a minimum because they know you're going to give them a lash, you're not going to kill them, but they're going to fall to the ground." Couce adds that potential aggressors relax "unconsciously" and do not attack the agent. If you still try to do so, you will be subdued.
Two months ago, a drunken passenger bit a Civil Guard officer and assaulted two others who were trying to get her off a plane in which she was causing disturbances in Lanzarote. For this type of cases, Couce proposes that the General Directorate or the Ministry of the Interior distribute pepper spray for the interventions of the agents in the airplanes.
AUGC emphasizes that "the Canary Islands is a safe territory, but to maintain this security and the safety of the more than 16 million tourists who visit us, we would need around a thousand more agents in all the islands." In the case of Lanzarote, he states that around 200 civil guards would be needed.
