The Directorate General of the Guardia Civil has responded to repeated requests from the Mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, to reinforce local security. The authority announced 21 additional positions in the unit’s catalogue between 2025 and 2026, alongside an investment of nearly 100,000 euro to upgrade the local station.
The response, signed on 27th July by Director General Mercedes González Fernández, does not specify any new individual reinforcements beyond these previously announced measures aimed at raising staffing levels.
Response
The Director General thanked Dolón for his concern regarding public safety and apologised for the delay in replying. Her letter arrived almost three months after Dolón’s previous missive on 8th May. In that letter, the mayor highlighted direct shortages in personnel, facilities, and resources at one of the principal Guardia Civil posts in Spain, requesting a meeting to address the issues.
In September
In her reply on 27th July, González noted that the job catalogue for Guardia Civil units in Torrevieja was expanded by 21 positions over the 2025–2026 period. She added to this figure recent arrivals and the deployment of trainee officers. With these steps and the upcoming resolution of vacancies in September, the Directorate General estimates staffing coverage will reach close to 95%.
However, the response follows a familiar pattern from recent years, omitting exact details on how many officers currently serve in Torrevieja, how many posts remain vacant, or the net gain in staff once the September process concludes. No extraordinary reinforcement was outlined to cope with the town’s seasonal population surges.
This 95% target offers little new information, as the Government Sub-delegation in Alicante had previously shared the same outlook regarding new hires and filled vacancies.
Press conference
Government Sub-delegate Manuel Pineda and the Colonel Chief of the Alicante Guardia Civil Command, Francisco Poyato, clarified the figures during a joint press conference in Torrevieja on Monday, 24th August. They stated that the public security division in Torrevieja consists of 208 officers. That number rises to 300 when including judicial police teams, other specialist services, and trainee officers, excluding the local traffic detachment and temporary deployments of the Citizen Security Unit (Usecic).
100,000 euro station investment
The letter also announced upcoming improvement works at the Torrevieja station to boost operational efficiency, with an estimated cost of nearly 100,000 euro. However, Ministry of the Interior procurement records show that this project has not yet been put out to public tender.
The letter omitted specific details regarding the exact nature, scope, or start date of the works. The funding follows Dolón’s explicit warnings that the facility’s deficiencies extend beyond staff numbers, leaving officers without adequate infrastructure for their duties. As with other stations in the Valencian Community, Torrevieja continues to resolve occasional deficiencies with municipal support.
The Directorate General offered few other specifics on physical resources, though it made a generic reference to ongoing measures along the Alicante coast to combat organised and trans-border crime.
500,000 summer residents
The May letter followed an earlier message sent by Dolón to the Interior Minister in February. The mayor maintained that Guardia Civil resources are insufficient for Torrevieja’s scale, pointing out that coverage stood at roughly 81% and noting that the municipality lacks a National Police force despite having over 110,000 registered residents. He also highlighted population growth driven by the arrival and regularisation of over 10,000 displaced Ukrainian citizens.
Dolón stressed that official census figures fail to capture the town’s true population. He explained that resident numbers exceed 250,000 in the low season and reach 500,000 in peak season due to second-home ownership and year-round tourism. Town Hall figures based on water consumption and waste collection estimate peak numbers slightly lower, at around 450,000.
Urban layout
The mayor acknowledged that local urban planning, characterised by holiday housing developments, presents distinct security challenges. He cited urban sprawl, where outlying estates act as small self-contained villages, leading to burglaries and illegal squatting. He also mentioned Torrevieja’s port status and coastal vulnerability to drug trafficking vessels. Dolón concluded that Torrevieja’s steady growth has not been matched by state security resources, requesting proper staffing, facilities, and tools for local officers.
A week of controversy
This correspondence preceded recent local controversy surrounding the 2025 crime statistics, which topped 10,000 offences. Following Dolón’s call for extra resources, Government Sub-delegate Manuel Pineda asserted that crime had fallen by 9% compared to 2025 and reiterated that Torrevieja remains safe. The local PSOE branch also called for additional Guardia Civil officers while urging Dolón to apply equal pressure on the regional government regarding health, education, and infrastructure services.
Other Articles
