The latest crime data released by the Jefatura Superior de Policía de Andalucía Oriental suggests that despite the recession, crime across Eastern Andalucia (Jaén, Málaga, Almería, Granada) continues to drop, with 14.06% fewer crimes being committed so far this year over 2009.
The two types of crime with the biggest drops are bag snatching (a 31% drop) and vehicle theft (22% drop).
Better police training, with better cooperation between forces, and better backup from the funcionarios are all being cited as reasons for the drop.
Granada, once known as a petty crime hotspot, is now the third most crime free province in Spain.
Police have carried out one of their normal operations against people who smuggle in female prostitutes from outside the EU and force them to work in brothels.
La Voz de Almería, our friendly newspaper, condems this activity and says that the ring, operating under the name “María del Mar y sus gatitas” advertised their services on the net.
What La Voz has failed to mention, in denouncing these internet ads, is that this ring of brothels, using the same name, usually took up about a quarter of a page in their classified ads every single issue.
21 year old Francisco Javier Balbín París, a local policeman in Almeria, who died on Tuesday after crashing his motorbike while chasing an illegal taxi that refused to stop at his command, was buried with full honours last night in Almeria. He had served only since last December.
The Mayor of Almeria has declared two days of official mourning, with flags to be flown at half mast, and awarded the young man the Golden Medal of the city of Almeria.
He is from an old policing family in Almeria, and his father is subinspector of the Local Police in Almeria city. The taxi driver has since been arrested. No doubt the local police will now start to do something about the illegal taxi problem in Almeria – only last week the taxi guild gave them a list of over 200 cars they suspect are being used as illegal taxis.
While reading the salicious details of the fight between Bob P and his detractors (and now Lenox?) on www.AlboxBlog.com I noticed a post saying that Albox now has an emergency number you can call “in case of emergency”. 092. The post seems to suggest that Albox is unique and modern in doing this.
Actually, 092 is the national hotline for the local police. Whereever you call from, Telefonica should put you through to the Policia Local. I’m sure it doesn’t always work – but it’s supposed to! All Albox has done is signup to the national register so if you call from a landline you get put through to the Local Police HQ in Albox rather then the central switchboard.
Here’s the list for all emergency numbers in Andalucía, should you care to write them down:
General Emergencies: 112
Guardia Civil: 062
Policía Nacional: 091
Policía local: 092
Fire Brigade: 080
Ambulance: 061
Civil Protection: 1006
The 112 number is a generic emergency number (like 999 in the UK). This works from any EU country, such as the UK, France, Germany, etc. You get put through to an operator who assesses your needs and transfers you to the department you need. If you don’t speak Spanish I would suggest you call 112 directly as they should speak English and French there.
If you run a bar, you should ask at the town hall for the Local Police number, most town halls provide a card with the mobile number of the local rozzers on it. So if it all kicks off you call old Pepe directly on his mobile and he comes round on his scooter. Saves getting the Guardia involved, if they’re local lads they’ll appreciate this discretion when they sober up. And if you call the switchboard, again, it’s logged. If you’re in Turre the number is 617467423.
Summer has arrived along with another bunch of the boys in light green from the Benemérita. Almería gets the lion portion of new Guardia Civil recruits from the current promotion, 81 in all, which brings the total Guardia numbers up to 1100 across the province. Heavens only knows what they’re all doing, surveying up in the Almanzora valley no doubt.
And, no doubt making use of the boot of the lorry they shipped them in, they brought a further five speed traps to catch out unwitting motorists. They have been tossed unceremoniously on to the side of the road at:
A-334, KM 49,87 (Autovía del marmol, as it goes through Purchena)(Speed limit 60 km/h)
AL5105, KM 29,8, (between Carboneras and Venta del Pobre)(Speed limit 50 km/h)
A1050, KM 11, (El Ejido, on the motorway exit towards Las Norias) (Speed limit 90 km/h)
AL3115, KM 3,4 (Cabo de Gata road via Fabriquilla)(Speed limit 100 km/h)
There will eventually be a total of 11 speed traps in Almeria, and there are currently 2 working. If you get caught, you get fined. If you don’t receive the fine or don’t pay it, then it slowly accumulates until you sell the car, and then you get done.
The infamous Nigerian Scammer (those responsable for sending you those “please help me smuggle 202 million euros out of my country” or “you have won the improbable jackpot for which you never entered” emails) have taken a hit as National Police swooped down on a ring in Roquetas del Mar.
28 arrests were made, almost all of them Nigerian or central African. 22 are in jail awaiting justice, the other 6 have already been deported.
According to a police spokesman, the nerve centre was outfitted with letters, falsified official logos and stamps, computers and 70 mobile phones. The Nigerians arrested in the apartment all denied any knowledge of the equipment (they had all popped in for a coffee with a friend who was not there, no doubt) but when one of the phones rang they all lept on top of the phone to stop the police answering it.
The nigerians scammers are believed to have conned at least 63 people out of a million and a half euros. The arrest was part of a wider ranging operation against these sorts of scam (a lot of them are based in Spain), although this particular arrests was after a tipoff from the FBI.
The Police are redfaced after admitting that yes, one of their crack anti riot police (the feared UDI) was pick pocketed during the riots on Wednesday in Almeria. His gun, complete with holder and ammo, was taken off him, and he only noticed after things had calmed down.
Despite carrying out a search of the area, the gun was not found. Police say that if it is voluntarily returned “no action will be taken” (yeah, right) but if they find it “severe measures will be taken against the person in whos possesion it is found”. Right now it’s probably hanging on some farmers wall, a proud souvenir of the rebellion.
The Mayor of Zurgena, Candido, et al, seems to be blaming the PSOE for his recent problems with law, blaming them for a “witch hunt” due to the fact that “he belongs to another political party which has the temerity to win local elections”.
The local Guardia Civil agents arrested for passing confidential information about police patrols to drug smugglers are saying that they are being persecuted for “shopping a corrupt police Sargent, back in 2000”.
To take two headlines for local papers from just this week.
Now I’m sorry, but every crook who is arrested will blame somebody else. So, why does the local press print all these complaints?
As I pass through Zurgena, I do hear a lot of complaints about the fact that Candido is being persecuted because he is not PSOE (Candido belongs to the Partido Andalucista Party, the same party that controls Vera). This is being said by both Spanish and English. But, in my personal experience, it is being said by the older Spanish. The same Spaniards who are used to political corruption from the “never to be mentioned” dictator days. The same Spaniards who all know people who have been dragged from their beds during the night by the Guardia, and shot, just for daring to mention the corruption endemic in local elections during the 50s, 60s, 70s.
Any Spaniard over the age of 35ish will shrug when the whole topic of illegal builds and political corruption is raised. “So what?” is the comment I most hear. Of course they care, they have just grown up in a situation where the people in power have the right to make money by means fair or foul.
Among Spaniards of my generation, raise the topic of illegal builds or political corruption, and they will either shrug or blush. They know it’s wrong, they are ashamed, they just don’t know how to fix the problem. What, you think local elections circa 1920 in the UK were any better?????
Spain (and possibly Portugal) are unique among the EU at the moment of having the emerging controlling generation inculcated in our liberal western judicial system, versus a retiring generation used to a military dictatorship.
Candido and his buddies may, or may not, be guilty of pocketing backhanders. If they were, I expect that they were guilty of nothing more than asking for what they thought was their fair share of the profits*.
But let me just say, that if you truly believe that the whole Spanish judicial system, both judges and police, are taking direct orders from the current ruling political party, then what the hell are you still doing living in Spain. The real scandal is not that Candido was arrested, but that it is taking them so long to arrest the rest of the bastards who ripped off so many naïve foreigners.
*In response to expected emails, that comment was ironic.
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