Local Police saw a 16% increase in activity during a difficult 2020
It was a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic and an increase in services provided by the local force.
Wednesday 13th January 2021 | MIKE SMITH
The Local Police of Xàbia has issued its annual report, a balance with the interventions carried out in the municipality that, as expected, is marked by the COVID-19 health crisis and the control of prevention measures that have been adopted by the different administrations . The 2020 police report records a total of 8,174 actions compared to the 7,081 carried out in 2019, which represents a 16% increase.
This increase can be directly attributed to the pandemic since the local force issued 898 infringement fines for different breaches in prevention against COVID-19: 545 of them were directed to the Ministry of the Interior of people who broke the restrictions of the national ‘State of Alarm’ and the other 353 for violating the measures imposed by the different regional decrees approved since this summer to try to contain and stop the spread of infection, most of them for not wearing a mask (236), but fines were also issued for not respecting hygiene measures (45) or the curfew times (56).
Regarding the infractions classified as ‘serious’, six venue owners in the hospitality sector were reported for failing to comply with the required social distancing measures inside their premises and on their terraces, a further four for organizing private parties or events that involved the gathering of people (i.e. crowding), one for breaching the capacity limit, two for celebrating prohibited activities and two others for not meeting sanitary conditions. There was also one fine issued for breaking home isolation.
Regarding services not linked to the COVID-19, the area that increased the most during 2020 was that related to neighborhood disturbances due to noise (1,200), maritime incidents, fires and administrative complaints, a total of 3,113 attendance to incidents compared to 2,181 last year. Of that total, 297 of the complaint reports opened by the Police were directly related to infractions of the health and safety by-laws and public coexistence (“botellones”, noise or consumption of alcohol or drugs on public roads). Figures more in line with the average year are those accumulated by services related to circulation and traffic (1,822 services), health, social, minors or animal-related assistance (1,416) and those related to citizen security have decreased slightly (1,698) .
The Local Police Headquarters wants to thank all its officers for the great effort and dedication to service demonstrated during a very complicated year in which – in addition to their usual duties – they have had to assume control and surveillance of all the regulations to face the spread of COVID-19, adapt shifts and services to the health situation and compensate for the reduction in the workforce experienced by recent retirements.
Chief Inspector José Antonio Monfort highlighted the role played by the police in the health crisis beyond control, both at an informative and social level, from the telephone service to clarify regulations to the distribution of protection material, support to extra cleaning tasks or to schools with the distribution of school tasks.
