Over 40 local police officers from Orihuela demonstrated on the steps of the town hall on Saturday morning in support of their three colleagues from Orihuela Costa whose private vehicles were set on fire in the early hours of Saturday morning whilst they were out on patrol in the suburbs of the Orihuela Costa.
The matter is still under investigation by the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard who are calling for witnesses of the incidents to come forward.
Their message to the mayor in a letter signed by representatives of the three police unions, UGT, CSI-F and SPPLB, was that the arson attack should have been avoided.
They state that despite the precarious nature of the work that they undertake “we are suffering a serious deterioration in our technical support, our facilities, working conditions, clothing, and in virtually everything that is necessary to carry out our work with dignity.”
They claim that they have only received “encouraging words, but nothing more” and that working conditions are “increasingly difficult”.
City officials are told that “every day that you take to take it and try and find solutions to our problems, the situation is getting worse and will cost more to resolve”.
The letter to the mayor states that the districts outside Orihuela City “are increasingly abandoned and in need of additional resources to increase the police presence, not only during the nights of procession and fiestas.” They say that they are extremely fortunate that the distances between the city and many of the outlying areas are not too far and that are usually able to call for reinforcements from the city but that will not always be the case.
With regard to the coast, they say that the situation “is very serious, because it lacks decent facilities and the staff in the Orihuela Costa continue to operate in an unhealthy, unsafe place where accommodation for agents is crowded and often chaotic and at the same time they denounce both the lack of staff and technical support.
The three agents who have lost their vehicles will not be compensated by the City’s liability insurance, noting that this “is unworthy of a municipality considered to be a progressive City.”
While the insurance company claims that the three cars were parked on the public highway, agents insist that these vehicles were parked in the parking bays that are reserved for agents and city officials and as such they were in authorised bays and they should be compensated.
