British and Spanish police 'exchange': UK officers to be stationed in Benidorm
Sunday, August 23, 2015 @ 7:08 PM
BRITISH police on the beat in Spain's busiest resort towns is a scheme that is beginning to spread out across the country following its success in Magaluf (Mallorca) and Sant Antoni de Portmany (Ibiza) – UK officers' next stop is likely to be Benidorm (Alicante province).
And police from Spain will undergo a stint in Britain to widen their experience.
MP Juan Carlos Moragues says the aim in the Costa Blanca capital, on Spain's east coast, is for tourists to 'feel at home' and be able to relate better to officers, allowing them a greater sense of comfort and security by dealing with 'their own kind' and, naturally, with police who speak their language.
Britons make up the majority of foreign tourists in Benidorm, which is why police will be drafted in from the UK.
This is also true of Magaluf and Sant Antoni, but in addition to the 'comfort zone factor', in these Balearic Island resort areas, British police are also more likely to be taken seriously by youngsters enjoying their first taste of freedom and 'happy hours' abroad.
Whilst anti-social behaviour is far less rife in Magaluf and Sant Antoni this year thanks to a tightening of local bye-laws and stringent warnings by travel companies, incidences of drug-taking, sexual acts in public, and general riotous drunken displays are not history just yet, given how very cheap package deals and a proliferation of bars and nightclubs continue to attract holidaymakers in their late teens and early 20s in large groups of friends.
Moragues says he and the National Police in Spain are in talks with the British forces to get the scheme off the ground in Benidorm 'as soon as possible', and hopefully before next summer.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com