The Secretary of State for Security, Francisco Martínez Vázquez, has stated that the promised building of a National Police station in Torrevieja is “not on the table”, despite both historic and continual promises by the local government team that it would happen.
The land for the proposed new facility has already been leased, as this has been a request from the every growing population of the city for over a decade. In fact, on that basis, the Partido Popular included the project in their election manifesto in 2005. The land has been paid for by the Torrevieja tax payers and donated to the Interior Ministry for the purpose of completing a project, a matter which now seems nothing more than another waste of public funds.
The Secretary of State gave his response to questions posed by the press whilst he was attending the official opening of the new foreigner´s registration centre in the town, replacing a smaller antiquated facility near the windmill.
With the disappointing truth that Torrevieja may never see a national police station, especially with the official resident figures under question and the threat of losing 15,000 residents from the official figures, the mayor of the city, Eduardo Dólon, played down the comments, focussing rather on the positive news of the offices the dignitaries were attending.
However, it wasn´t all bad news, as the Secretary has said that Torrevieja will gain a “virtual” police presence, located in the Vista Alegre, similar to that which is currently operating in Málaga, where it has been on trial, making Torrevieja only the second place in Spain to receive this futuristic element of policing. The vandal-proof unit that offers videoconferencing, supporting audio, video, physical objects and paper, will be operational from August.
Francisco Martínez described the project as “innovative”, explaining how the facilities enable Spanish citizens, tourists and foreign residents to access a comprehensive and permanent system of immediate police assistance, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in a variety of most common used languages, and adapted for use by those with hearing and visual impairment, as well as those with physical disabilities.
Meanwhile, the new foreigner´s registration office is officially open, located on calle Arquitecto Larramendi, with 12 staff assigned to the unit. Non-EU foreigners still have to go to Alicante to be dealt with, but for the Europeans, this office is now an improvement on the previous facility in the town, which itself was of great importance as resident applicants had to attend the station in Elche before it was opened.
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/44415/
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