The Canary Islands Public Employees Union (Sepca), the sole representative of the San Bartolomé Local Police collective, has exposed "the serious situation" facing the San Bartolomé Local Police. This body points to the "inaction on the part of the leaders of the local administration".
According to a press release issued this Wednesday, the union states that "the San Bartolomé Local Police is facing serious difficulties in its daily work, due to the continued negligence on the part of the government group of the San Bartolomé City Council.
The state of the facilities
In this line, it details "the main deficiencies that seriously affect the daily operation of these agents." Firstly, it points out that the facilities are old, deficient and obsolete. Sepca assures that "the Police Headquarters are in a deplorable state. Suffering from a lack of basic maintenance for many years. And the most serious of all, lacking the necessary elements that would make up an internal security system to hinder, delay or prevent the access of any aggressive agent."
To continue, it refers to the lack of basic regulatory equipment. The union continues assuring that "based on the regulations currently in force, the agents lack elements of the basic regulatory equipment." Thus, it insists that "this lack puts the safety of the agents at risk and compromises their response capacity. In some cases, the agents themselves have to repeatedly request the incorporation or renewal of some of these defensive means. As was the recent case of the regulatory firearms, which were so defective that they broke in the hands of the agents. Being renewed as a result of the pressure that these exerted through several reports of need."
Problems of access to technologies
Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In this line, it defends that "with a police force with scarce human resources, it is more necessary for its members to have a wide range of technological resources that facilitate their daily work and that these new technologies serve as support for police work. But unfortunately, in the San Bartolomé Local Police, these resources are conspicuous by their absence."
In the statement, they relate that "the agents who, in the majority of services, do not have communicative support from Headquarters, also do not have any type of direct access from tablets or similar devices that allows them to have useful information in real time. Even preventing them from having direct access to their own traffic cameras. Having to request said access on working days and in the morning hours only."
In this sense, they express that "this limitation prevents any investigation from being carried out quickly and effectively, thus hindering the resolution of incidents and crimes derived from traffic. This lack of New technologies applied to police work is aggravated by the absence of basic resources such as a police computer program, this being, "the eternal political promise."
Shortage of agents and legal coverage
The union also shows the lack of personnel in critical hours. As mentioned in the previous point, "in shifts such as afternoons, nights and weekends, there is no support staff in police units, so this situation leaves citizens without an essential service in critical moments such as a simple complaint, in addition to the fact that in the shifts described, the Agents on duty have to carry the office on their backs, with the diversion of calls from the Headquarters to a mobile phone, which implies that in certain occasions it is incompatible to answer the calls and provide adequate service to the citizen. In addition to the lack of telephone coverage in several points of the municipality, which implies a total disconnection."
In the aforementioned text, they also express problems in legal coverage. "In many cases, the agents are defenseless against any complaint or judicial process, since they lack legal coverage of guarantees. Having, in the first instance, to pay for this possible legal defense themselves. Or resort to hiring insurance that guarantees this coverage."
In this sense, Sepca points out that the "training actions are given without application or without continuity." Therefore, it defends that "the training action is a necessary tool for labor development, being in this profession, something fundamental. But, unfortunately, in many occasions this training is reflected in a beautiful diploma stored in a drawer and without labor development."
Or, according to the union, "what is worse, that the mandatory training update is not carried out for some of the devices in use. As is the case of electronic control devices (Taser). Training that has been expired for several months, being pertinent its update urgently."
To conclude, in the statement issued they insist that the local agents of San Bartolomé "work in precarious conditions. Situation that has been dragging on for many years and that has significantly diminished the service that could be offered to the citizens of the municipality, as a consequence of an entrenched and systematic neglect. Neglect, which notably affects the morale of the agents and that they would not want to be installed prematurely in the newly incorporated agents."
The union states that "the frustration among the agents is palpable, since they are unable to offer a service according to current needs and expectations, working with resources more typical of the 80s and 90s."
To conclude, they have demanded "an immediate and effective response that solves these deficiencies and ensures that their Local Police Force can perform its work with the necessary resources and in adequate conditions."
