The Teguise City Council currently has 30 traffic cameras distributed between Costa Teguise, Caleta de Famara and Nazaret. After studying its use and the Data Protection Law, the insular party through its councilor and president, Jonás Álvarez, expresses his concern: “The traffic cameras, supposedly authorized for that purpose, must be properly signposted and justified. However, both our mayoress and the councilor for traffic and Local Police Ginés González, have repeatedly told us that they are also being used for citizen security. This shows an important contradiction and we know that these cameras have been reported for violating their right to privacy.”
These complaints, according to what the insular party Primero Teguise has been able to gather, "are based on the absence of informative signs and the use of the recorded images. Taking these infractions into account, they are considered very serious, and according to article 72 LOPDGDD, we are facing two different infractions: on the one hand, in the case of using the cameras for a purpose other than security and, on the other, that of not informing about the cameras and their purpose."
“The sanctions stipulated for these infractions exceed 300,000 euros” declares Álvarez, who continues explaining: “each infraction would involve a fine independently, so we would be talking about a total fine of more than 600,000 euros that would come out of the coffers of all Teguise taxpayers. We understand that the putting [email protected] press release provision of security cameras is undoubtedly a positive exercise for the municipality, but with the legal regulations and the vulnerability of the right to privacy we must tread carefully. We know that the Civil Guard has access to these cameras, while only four officers of our local police can access them due to security protocols. We should then clarify what types of agreements must be followed for the transfer of this surveillance.”
In his explanation, the councilor of Primero Teguise, shows the statistical data for 2024 and lists "the deficiencies of the local police department": “Meanwhile, we continue to see how the staff of our local police remains short. If we approached the figures recommended by the ratio of inhabitants, we probably would not have to depend on video surveillance. Precisely, perhaps if we had more personnel, Teguise would not have suffered this past 2024 an increase of almost 10% in crime compared to the previous year.”
“The passivity of Ginés González when it comes to tackling delays and problems is very visible, we see how right now they announce the delivery of the uniforms when they had an open dispute for not delivering the uniforms and the defensive means stipulated in decree 20/2020, and in the Teguise officials agreement of 2014, which although it has expired is the one that is applied. Why do they boast about these things?, when what should be done is to allocate a larger budget to the Local Police of Teguise", concludes Jonás Álvarez.
