Formentera says local law enforcement needs additional officers, inter-agency coordination to make summer safe as possible

foto 2021 JLS BMembers of Formentera’s Local Security Council (Junta Local de Seguretat) convened today for an ordinary session chaired by Consell de Formentera premiere Alejandra Ferrer and Madrid’s envoy in the Balearics, Enrique Sanchez Navarrete. Other face-to-face and online attendees included Manuel Hernández, chief commissioner of the National Police of Eivissa; Enrique Gómez Bastida, head of operations for the Balearic Islands Civil Guard; Francisco Javier López, Civil Guard captain; the heads of the Formentera Civil Guard; Formentera Local Police chief Félix Ramos and the head of the local Civil Protection corps, Francisco Moya. Among the political figures present were local interior chief Josep Marí, chief of social welfare and PSOE rep Rafael Ramírez, Gent per Formentera rep Bartomeu Escandell, Sa Unió rep Lorenzo Córdoba, regional director general of emergencies and interior Jaume Barceló and head of Balearic Islands Institute of Public Safety (ISPIB) Vicenç Martorell.

Alejandra Ferrer presented the Tourism Reactivation Plan (Pla de Reactivació Turística) to meeting attendees, pointing to the document’s division into public health measures, controls and outreach. Speaking after the gathering, Ferrer shared her hopes that the island would once again receive summer reinforcements of Civil Guard officers specialised in marine protections, maritime rescue operations, civil protection and traffic enforcement. She also asked for “reinforcements from the Balearic office of emergencies to enforce Covid safety regulations at businesses and speed up case investigations”.

Coordination
Ferrer called for working meetings to“coordinate measures scheduled to take effect after emergency orders are lifted and see how we can make summer as safe and peaceful as possible and ensure an appropriate strategy for dealing with crowds”.

For his part, Sánchez Navarrete asserted such meetings were “key to improving coordination, particularly at this stage of the pandemic”and praised collaboration between the Consell and the Civil Guard, National Police and regional representatives generally. He also made assurances that the ROCA team and maritime and traffic officers of the Civil Guard would be among Formentera’s summer reinforcements.

Additionally on the agenda was Formentera’s signing of an agreement between the Spanish Ministry of Interior and Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) to improve care for victims of gender violence.

Lastly, attendees were briefed on the falling rate of local crime — a reality President Ferrer took care to nuance: “In a winter as unusual as this one, it’s impossible to compare figures from other years”.

29 April 2021
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera