The Professional Union of Local Police and Firefighters (SPPLB) has defended the interests of the Yaiza Local Police Force by publicly denouncing the "critical situation of abandonment and inaction" in which the Mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Manuel Noda González, maintains the citizen security of one of the main tourist municipalities in Lanzarote.
Faced with the repeated statements by the mayor alleging that "the replacement rate prevents the vacant positions from being filled", the union organization clarifies "forcefully and unequivocally that said statement is not true and lacks any legal basis".
According to the Staffing Plan of the Illustrious City Council of the Historic City of Yaiza, the latest published corresponding to the fiscal year 2025, there are the following vacant positions duly budgeted in the Special Administration Scale, Special Services Subscale:
Local Police: 10 vacancies
Officer: 7 vacancies
Deputy Inspector: 1 vacancy
A total of 18 vacant positions out of a total of 50 represent a deficit of 56.25% compared to the approved theoretical staff. More than half of the staff of the Local Police Force of Yaiza is unfilled, they denounce.
From the union they criticize that "what the mayor does not say is that we currently have 31 local police officers on staff, adding one on secondment from the Local Police of Tinajo. However, the actual officers available for patrol and citizen security service are significantly reduced by the following circumstances":
With only 22 operational police officers spread across a 2/3 rotating 12-hour shift system (five groups), they assure that "it is organizationally impossible to guarantee the minimum functional staff of 6 officers per shift needed to cover communications, two patrols, and a reinforcement officer".
Aggravating factors of the situation
In this month of April, on many occasions there has been no Civil Guard patrol in Yaiza, so all citizen security requirements are fully assumed by the Local Police. This means that a tourist municipality of 211.84 km² with a floating population of up to 30,000 people is covered exclusively by the scarce local personnel, without any backup from the State Security Forces and Corps.
A single patrol couple on numerous shifts According to service groups, sometimes there is only one patrol couple for the entire municipality. This means:
• A real occupational hazard to the physical integrity of officers in the face of any public disorder or unforeseen event, leaving them defenseless. Officers face high-risk interventions (gender violence, bladed weapons, nighttime disturbances in tourist areas) without the minimum support required by safety protocols and occupational risk prevention regulations.
• A serious decline in the quality of service that we provide to the neighbors who request our assistance. With only one patrol, if an incident is attended to in Playa Blanca, the rest of the municipality (Yaiza, Uga, Femés, El Golfo, Puerto Calero, Las Breñas and other areas) is left without any police coverage, with response times that can exceed 25-30 minutes.
• The Local Police's citizen service office remains closed, depriving residents and visitors of a basic service for information, processing complaints, and in-person assistance. The lack of personnel makes it impossible to maintain this fundamental proximity service.
What is the Replacement Rate and "why it is no excuse"
The Cash Replenishment Rate (TRE) is a mechanism regulated in the General State Budget Laws that limits the number of new positions that public administrations can offer based on the departures produced in the previous year (retirements, resignations, deaths, etc.).
However, in Yaiza's case, the replacement rate is "completely irrelevant," and it is so for the following reasons:
• It is not about creating new positions: The 10 vacant Local Police positions already exist in the Staffing Table of Civil Servants of the Yaiza City Council, approved along with the General Municipal Budget. They are structural positions, created and budgeted for. Their coverage is an act of ordinary management, not the creation of new positions.
• Local Police is a priority sector: Even if it were applicable, the replacement rate for Local Police and security forces has been set at up to 125% according to the latest Budget Laws, well above the general 110%. That is, more positions can be filled than are lost due to resignations.
• Full budgetary backing: The positions are funded in the 2025 Staffing Plan. Due to the lack of definitive approval of the 2026 Budget, the automatic extension of article 169.4 of the Consolidated Text of the Law Regulating Local Finances is in effect, guaranteeing that the necessary credit is available.
The union accuses the mayor Óscar Noda of "using the replacement rate as a smokescreen to justify his inaction. There is no legal or budgetary impediment to convene the 10 vacant positions of Local Police".
Yaiza, far below legal ratios
Article 9 of Decree 75/2003, of May 12, establishes an indicative module of 1.8 police officers per 1,000 inhabitants, and factors such as the condition of a tourist municipality, large territorial extension, scattered settlements, and high traffic density must also be considered.
The actual operational availability of 22 agents is 38% below the minimum indicative reference of Decree 75/2003. The Yaiza City Council fails to comply with its own approved staff and the minimum police staffing ratios established by regional regulations.
Operational load: In 2025, 4,327 police interventions were recorded, including 275 traffic accidents, 124 actions for gender violence, 335 disturbances of public order, 125 police proceedings, and 24 arrests. So far in 2026, 623 interventions have already been accumulated.
Demands to the mayor of Yaiza
From the Professional Union of Local Police and Firefighters, they urge the Yaiza City Council and its Mayor to "immediately convene the 10 vacant positions for Local Police, adhering to the unified annual call of the Government of the Canary Islands. Only 2 of the 10 positions are currently in the selection process; the remaining 8 require immediate action".
Also "stop using the replacement rate as an excuse to not fill vacant positions that are already created, budgeted, and ready to be filled; authorize extraordinary services as a temporary measure to guarantee the minimum operational coverage of the service while new agents are incorporated; plan the coverage of the Officer and Sub-inspector positions, also vacant (7 officers and one sub-inspector), to provide the Corps with the command structure it needs and, finally, reopen the Local Police citizen service office to re-establish the proximity service that residents and visitors deserve".
Disclaimer
Law 6/1997, of July 4, on the Coordination of Local Police of the Canary Islands, in its article 35, imposes the unavoidable obligation to guarantee the permanent and continuous provision of police service. Organic Law 2/1986, on Security Forces and Corps, configures the Local Police as an essential public service.
The prolonged persistence of this structural staff shortage "could compromise the immediate response capacity of the service, with potential impact on the Administration's patrimonial liability regime. If, as a consequence of the known and documented staff deficit, damage occurs to people or property that could have been avoided with adequate staffing, the responsibility will fall directly on whoever had the capacity to act and decided not to do so."
They warn that "the Mayor's inaction in the face of official technical reports that prove a real and objectively identifiable operational risk constitutes a political decision with legal consequences. The residents and visitors of Yaiza deserve the security that corresponds to them by law."
"We reiterate that there is no legal or budgetary impediment to filling the vacant positions in the Local Police. The safety of our neighbors, workers, and visitors is a priority and has full regulatory and budgetary backing. Only the Mayor's political will is lacking, they conclude.