The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, presided today over the graduation ceremony of 135 new police officers who are joining the security of 23 Canarian municipalities, "a promotion more prepared and trained than ever in the Canary Islands to be able to respond to a complex and demanding world."
Fernando Clavijo highlighted the pride they should feel for wearing that shield with the flag because "it represents the values of an entire people" and he was convinced that the citizens of the Canary Islands or the tourists who visit us will feel safe and comforted when they see the uniform and that they will find the help they need.
For her part, the Minister of the Presidency, Public Administrations, Justice and Security, Nieves Lady Barreto, thanked the new agents for choosing this profession. "As local police officers, they are the first call, the proximity police, the closest and the one with the most contact with the citizens, an indispensable reinforcement for the protection of the municipalities they are going to serve and a guarantee for the maintenance of the coexistence of the citizens," she said.
Nieves Lady Barreto had a special recognition for the 31 new female local police officers, who represent 23% of the total of those graduating today. "With their decision, we not only advance in equality, but they also become an example for many Canarian girls and young women, a benchmark. There is still work to be done to reach that 40% that breaks the imbalance in equality, but the path has been started and is unstoppable," she said.
The Minister assured that the police will never be a superfluous expense but an investment. "Investing in security is investing in the fundamental pillar that guarantees the rule of law," she said, while thanking the mayors for the trust they have placed in her department, both for the training of local police officers and for the management of the calls for positions in a unified opposition, through the agreement with the FECAM. "When we talk about the Canarian Police, we add the Local Police and the Autonomous Police, because together we are and will be stronger, because we are all necessary and because each one, within the scope of their powers, can contribute to making the Canarian public security system bigger, always in collaboration and in close coordination with the Civil Guard and the National Police."
In addition, Nieves Lady Barreto recalled that the Government of the Canary Islands is also committed to fully developing the powers it has in the Statute of Autonomy and therefore, in 2025, the General Corps of the Canarian Police will have more than 400 agents, doubling the figure with which we started in July of last year, with only 192 officers. "Having more local police and more autonomous police is a strategic issue for this Government, a guideline marked by our president, which we fully share with all the Canarian City Councils." In this expansive context, she recalled that the Government of the Canary Islands approved this Monday the largest OPE of the Canarian Police.
The El Sauzal Theater hosted the graduation of the II Training Course of the Canarian Police, taught by the General Directorate of Studies and Training in Public Security of the Government of the Canary Islands. For five months, the agents have received 1,100 theoretical and practical hours to expand specific skills on traffic and road safety, emergencies, administrative police, judicial police, assistance and community police, communication and relations with citizens, police operational intervention, generic competence, and specific modules.
The event was attended by the mayor of El Sauzal, Mariano Pérez, and the directors of Security, David del Pino, and of Studies and Training in Public Security, José Manuel González Afonso, as well as municipal representatives, civil authorities, in addition to security forces and bodies.