Three springs ago, Capdepera town hall took pleasure in informing its citizens and any others who might have cared that the beach police unit was back on the beat. It had sprung into operation, as the official season demands, on 1 May. The town hall was able to also provide information about how well the unit had performed the previous year, which was when it was established. No fewer than 804 "denuncias" for non-compliance with bylaws had been issued.
Town halls love this sort of thing. Calvia is an even better example. Take, for instance, its report last year about the number of pineapples that had been impounded en route to Paguera and Magalluf beaches. Designed to impress, it ends up sounding limp if not slightly ridiculous.
The following summer, in July 2015, the town hall was giving information about its police night patrol, which was responding to citizen complaints regarding noise, street drinking and what have you. Before this season started, i.e. early April, it was reported that both the beach and night units could disappear. Police representatives were refusing to negotiate with the mayor. There was open warfare as the police felt badly let down. Their salaries, it was said, were the worst in Mallorca. Three officers from the night unit had decided to leave. The whole of the beach patrol looked as if it was on its way out as well.
Although one can (often with justification) mock the statistics that town halls enjoy lavishing on their citizenships, the police union said that the two units had generated successful results. Yet here they were, on the point of collapse because of low morale. Projecting ahead to the staging of the highly popular mediaeval market in May, union representatives were suggesting that only minimum services could be provided. Officers were refusing to perform "extraordinary services". The situation with their conditions - hours as well as pay - was "unsustainable".
Towards the end of April came news that certain weekend shifts had no police at all. This problem was expected to be repeated because of the lack of officers and the row over conditions. The prospect was looming of there being times in the main tourism season with no police patrols. The entire force of 37 was inadequate for a population that can increase to some 50,000, most of them in Cala Ratjada.
Last week, councillors from the opposition Partido Popular walked out of the council meeting. Protesting against the "authoritarianism" of PSOE (the mayor, Rafel Fernández, is from PSOE), they said that the administration was in chaos, one aspect of this being the failure to come to agreements with the police. The mayor pointed out that there had been a meeting the previous day at which there were some agreements, but not on pay. Increasing salaries would "not conform to legality" insofar as public employee pay is restricted under the terms of the so-called Montoro Law, named after the national finance minister.
At the weekend, there were various reports about the apparent total breakdown of control on the beaches of Cala Agulla and Son Moll. They had become "Comanche territory", invaded by hundreds of young people getting drunk, swimming nude, playing high-powered sound equipment and roasting chickens. These young people are Germans.
Responses to these reports didn't blame the police. They blamed the mayor and the town hall and the tourists. And for Cala Ratjada, this was hardly the first time that there was news of drunken German tourists. It's been going on for years, especially because of the spring break-type holidays. Cala Ratjada, so opinion goes, is the Magalluf of north-east Mallorca. That opinion is not wrong.
There are different issues here. One is policing. There are concerns elsewhere in Mallorca about the lack of police to deal with the greatly increased numbers of tourists. We all know about Magalluf and Playa de Palma, which are the resorts the politicians and much of the media are only ever interested in, but there are issues in places that don't normally attract attention. Playa de Muro is one, but it doesn't have the problems that Cala Ratjada has.
These are not the fault of the police or the town hall. The blame lies squarely with tour operators who organise spring-break holidays and with the hotels who accept the guests. The total disregard for coexistence and for the capabilities of local services, especially police, is scandalous.
So what's to be done? In all likelihood, nothing. What there is of the beach unit in Cala Ratjada - there were apparently two cops about at the weekend - cannot cope. The Guardia could be sent in but the Guardia have other matters to attend to. Compliance with local bylaws is first and foremost a local police issue and not a Guardia one. But as the police aren't there ... .
Showing posts with label Police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Police. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 06, 2017
Friday, March 03, 2017
Saluting The Brave: The Cursach Affair
Over two weeks ago there was an article in El Mundo the headline for which was "Rodríguez, the brave". This was not a certain Partido Popular Rodríguez (José María), who is implicated in the Palma police corruption investigations, but a PSOE Rodríguez - Alfonso, the mayor of Calvia.
To get to the essence of that article, the reason for praising Rodríguez for his bravery was because he had shown his willingness to remove a town hall official who was obstructing an investigation by a lower-ranking official. Moreover, Rodríguez was making it clear that Calvia will be ensuring that this investigation proceeds. It is to do with alleged "irregularities", ones that supposedly have existed for years and which Rodríguez's predecessors have preferred to overlook. It was no coincidence, therefore, that on Tuesday the National Police should raid not just Megapark and other establishments but also Calvia town hall. Rodríguez wouldn't have been told of the raid, but had he been, he would have been at the doors waving the police in.
Reaction to the arrest of Tolo Cursach was entirely predictable. I shall not repeat any of it. Whatever my view or the views of others, innocence must nevertheless be presumed. Let's just say that there was a fair amount of schadenfreude being expressed.
That same article concluded that Rodríguez has the means at his disposal to see through what he has said he will do. Despite experience that suggests otherwise (politicians who have lacked bravery), things in Mallorca could now change because of honest politicians. Rodríguez would be one.
There are other honest and brave men and women. Numbered among them are Judge Manuel Penalva, anti-corruption prosecutor Miguel Ángel Subirán, and Palma's councillor for public safety, Angelica Pastor, who has been subjected to threats and been the subject of some derision, which now appears to have been carefully orchestrated. Other honest and brave people are not publicly known, but they include witnesses and local police whistleblowers, the latter who must have endured periods of Kafka-esque purgatory, not knowing who to trust. There will be others who have felt likewise, including politicians and members of the state police forces.
From the legal ranks, we are more familiar with Judge Castro and prosecutor Pedro Horrach because of their pursuit of Matas and Urdangarin. Regardless of what one might think about the outcome of the Nóos trial, the integrity of Castro and Horrach should not be questioned. They disagreed where Princess Cristina was concerned. Legal opinion is entitled to differ. But the circumstances of their investigations were far from being the same to the ones confronting Penalva and Subirán. Neither Castro nor Horrach had any need to request the carrying of a gun. Penalva and Subirán have felt the need.
What was it Pedro Horrach said about intimidation, about being followed and about insults directed at his family? His investigations, however, were not in the same league as those of Penalva and Subirán. What started out as a relatively innocuous investigation into allegations of the fixing of police exam results in Palma has acquired a life of extraordinary significance. Matas, Urdangarin, Munar and their ilk are as nothing compared to what has being unfolding and will continue to unfold. Thieving public funds seems almost amateurish when put up against a web that embraces politicians, businesspeople and police and against what that web was allegedly conspiring to do. It was a web in which trust was impossible to ascertain except for the trust between perpetrators. Until, that is, Penalva and Subirán allowed trust to breathe.
What are we witnessing? The destruction once and for all of self-interested webs of deceit, threats and criminality? That's doubtful. But we are witnessing significant steps being taken in a positive direction. Judges and others are no longer cowed and deterred from investigating and for doing so with determination.
Horrach also spoke about pressures being intensified in small regions such as the Balearics. It was an understandable observation. Small regions, small populations create small pockets of power, mutually dependent and mutually corrupt or potentially corrupt. Small regions do not take kindly to those who snoop into affairs which have been crafted over decades. What does one make of the revelation that certain establishments have not been inspected for forty years? It's easy to make something of it. That's how things are.
Increasingly, though, they are not. There are not just the investigations into Palma police and connections to politicians and business. There are also those involving Calvia, about which little has been heard recently. But one senses that there will come a moment when a tidal wave will be unleashed, the culmination of the various investigations. When it is, Mallorca won't have witnessed anything like it.
We wait for it to happen, confident in the honest and the brave.
To get to the essence of that article, the reason for praising Rodríguez for his bravery was because he had shown his willingness to remove a town hall official who was obstructing an investigation by a lower-ranking official. Moreover, Rodríguez was making it clear that Calvia will be ensuring that this investigation proceeds. It is to do with alleged "irregularities", ones that supposedly have existed for years and which Rodríguez's predecessors have preferred to overlook. It was no coincidence, therefore, that on Tuesday the National Police should raid not just Megapark and other establishments but also Calvia town hall. Rodríguez wouldn't have been told of the raid, but had he been, he would have been at the doors waving the police in.
Reaction to the arrest of Tolo Cursach was entirely predictable. I shall not repeat any of it. Whatever my view or the views of others, innocence must nevertheless be presumed. Let's just say that there was a fair amount of schadenfreude being expressed.
That same article concluded that Rodríguez has the means at his disposal to see through what he has said he will do. Despite experience that suggests otherwise (politicians who have lacked bravery), things in Mallorca could now change because of honest politicians. Rodríguez would be one.
There are other honest and brave men and women. Numbered among them are Judge Manuel Penalva, anti-corruption prosecutor Miguel Ángel Subirán, and Palma's councillor for public safety, Angelica Pastor, who has been subjected to threats and been the subject of some derision, which now appears to have been carefully orchestrated. Other honest and brave people are not publicly known, but they include witnesses and local police whistleblowers, the latter who must have endured periods of Kafka-esque purgatory, not knowing who to trust. There will be others who have felt likewise, including politicians and members of the state police forces.
From the legal ranks, we are more familiar with Judge Castro and prosecutor Pedro Horrach because of their pursuit of Matas and Urdangarin. Regardless of what one might think about the outcome of the Nóos trial, the integrity of Castro and Horrach should not be questioned. They disagreed where Princess Cristina was concerned. Legal opinion is entitled to differ. But the circumstances of their investigations were far from being the same to the ones confronting Penalva and Subirán. Neither Castro nor Horrach had any need to request the carrying of a gun. Penalva and Subirán have felt the need.
What was it Pedro Horrach said about intimidation, about being followed and about insults directed at his family? His investigations, however, were not in the same league as those of Penalva and Subirán. What started out as a relatively innocuous investigation into allegations of the fixing of police exam results in Palma has acquired a life of extraordinary significance. Matas, Urdangarin, Munar and their ilk are as nothing compared to what has being unfolding and will continue to unfold. Thieving public funds seems almost amateurish when put up against a web that embraces politicians, businesspeople and police and against what that web was allegedly conspiring to do. It was a web in which trust was impossible to ascertain except for the trust between perpetrators. Until, that is, Penalva and Subirán allowed trust to breathe.
What are we witnessing? The destruction once and for all of self-interested webs of deceit, threats and criminality? That's doubtful. But we are witnessing significant steps being taken in a positive direction. Judges and others are no longer cowed and deterred from investigating and for doing so with determination.
Horrach also spoke about pressures being intensified in small regions such as the Balearics. It was an understandable observation. Small regions, small populations create small pockets of power, mutually dependent and mutually corrupt or potentially corrupt. Small regions do not take kindly to those who snoop into affairs which have been crafted over decades. What does one make of the revelation that certain establishments have not been inspected for forty years? It's easy to make something of it. That's how things are.
Increasingly, though, they are not. There are not just the investigations into Palma police and connections to politicians and business. There are also those involving Calvia, about which little has been heard recently. But one senses that there will come a moment when a tidal wave will be unleashed, the culmination of the various investigations. When it is, Mallorca won't have witnessed anything like it.
We wait for it to happen, confident in the honest and the brave.
Monday, August 29, 2016
"Sick Note" And The Whorehouse
If you're a politician who has more or less got everything, what else might you wish for? A fine yacht with which you can serenely sail around the shores of a summertime Mallorca? Possibly, but it's unlikely that your ego (and indeed money) will stretch to the obscene ostentation to be found floating on the calm waters of Palma bay. Better to not even try to compete. How about instead having your own police force? While among the fantasy flotilla will be those capable of boasting that they have their own armies, a personal brigade of cops would still do nicely in pandering to your need for self-actualisation.
José María Rodríguez denies having conspired to create a police force within a police force, one to be allied to the Partido Popular with the aim of benefiting certain business people and friends of the party to the disadvantage of rival business people and political enemies. Never, he insists, did he organise a policing system to "monitor" anyone, including judges and prosecutors. One of these prosecutors, Miguel Ángel Subiran asked him outright if he had. "Never ever."
José María has done a great deal of denying in his time. The legal status of "imputado" is a peculiar one that stops short of actually being charged. Suspected but no more. Many a politician has found him or herself "imputado", often to then have this "archived" by a court that has not found evidence to proceed to the next stage of formally charging and trial. Generally, this happens only the once. With José María, he's been making a bit of a habit of it. Had he, for instance, once phoned the then mayor of Andratx and given a tip-off that the cops were coming (he was Balearic interior minister at the time)? No, he had not, the judge was told. There were records of phone calls in the days before the cops arrived. Could have been about anything. The weather, for example.
José María also denies ever having been to an "alternative club" (the nice way of saying a whorehouse). "It disgusts me," he says. Stories that have emerged of the investigation into police corruption which include references to "old" men at sex parties arranged by friendly business people disgust everyone else.
The judge has issued a restraining order. The reason? To prevent José María getting at witnesses or others. He cannot, for instance, go within 300 metres of local police facilities. What happens if he does? Is there a José María warning system that sounds an alarm if he is 299 metres away?
Restraining orders were the order of the week. Cops were being restrained as well. Two senior ones in Palma and that good old boy in Magalluf, the ex-chief of police from Calvia, José Antonio Navarro, of whom a great deal could be said but which is perhaps best left for the time being.
Because José Antonio was on the point of starting work again, the judge decided it was time to slap the restraining order on him. He can't go near Calvia police or the town hall. On the point of starting work again? Where had he been? On sick leave. And seemingly so ever since he was released having spent 40 days banged up when he was arrested a couple of years ago. How does that all work? If there's a compliant doctor it can work easily enough, it would appear. The judge in the police corruption investigation wants to take action the doctor who signed off several Palma cops - all under suspicion - without even having seen them: he was going on medical reports from the prison.
Had there not been a restraining order or the subsequent suspension from duty, what might "Sick Note" José Antonio have been doing on his return after the prolonged absence? A spot of community policing perhaps? Likewise, what were the two former chiefs of police in Palma, both also faced with restraining orders and now suspended, doing? Innocent until and all that, but they don't appear to have been on sick leave, unlike the one before both of them who was.
This sordid affair, a corruption investigation more damaging than any of those into mere pilfering of public funds, throws up all manner of weirdness. It was revealed last week that a year ago there had been a phone call to the 112 emergency line from the San Fernando (Sant Ferran) police HQ which was complaining about the noise from an event that was taking place some two kilometres away at a club on the Paseo Marítimo.
This was for the Ella lesbian festival. In attendance, among others, were the mayor of Palma, José Hila, and tourism minister Biel Barceló. The call, and later ones from a mobile, were suspected to have come from an inspector named Capó, one of the police officers in Palma who is "imputado" in the corruption investigation. He denied in court having made the call (calls).
Returning to José María, it might be recalled that he once took action against Pilar Costa, now the spokesperson for the Balearic government, for having called him a "capo", which has a different meaning to "capó" when there is an accent. The latter means bonnet or hood of a car. Hood, however, might also be applicable to "capo" without an accent - a mafia boss. Judge Penalva, the investigating judge, who like the prosecutor Subiran has been given permission to carry a gun, described José María last month as the "architect in the shadows" of a corrupt organisation, an organisation the judge has also referred to as a criminal organisation.
Denial is everything.
José María Rodríguez denies having conspired to create a police force within a police force, one to be allied to the Partido Popular with the aim of benefiting certain business people and friends of the party to the disadvantage of rival business people and political enemies. Never, he insists, did he organise a policing system to "monitor" anyone, including judges and prosecutors. One of these prosecutors, Miguel Ángel Subiran asked him outright if he had. "Never ever."
José María has done a great deal of denying in his time. The legal status of "imputado" is a peculiar one that stops short of actually being charged. Suspected but no more. Many a politician has found him or herself "imputado", often to then have this "archived" by a court that has not found evidence to proceed to the next stage of formally charging and trial. Generally, this happens only the once. With José María, he's been making a bit of a habit of it. Had he, for instance, once phoned the then mayor of Andratx and given a tip-off that the cops were coming (he was Balearic interior minister at the time)? No, he had not, the judge was told. There were records of phone calls in the days before the cops arrived. Could have been about anything. The weather, for example.
José María also denies ever having been to an "alternative club" (the nice way of saying a whorehouse). "It disgusts me," he says. Stories that have emerged of the investigation into police corruption which include references to "old" men at sex parties arranged by friendly business people disgust everyone else.
The judge has issued a restraining order. The reason? To prevent José María getting at witnesses or others. He cannot, for instance, go within 300 metres of local police facilities. What happens if he does? Is there a José María warning system that sounds an alarm if he is 299 metres away?
Restraining orders were the order of the week. Cops were being restrained as well. Two senior ones in Palma and that good old boy in Magalluf, the ex-chief of police from Calvia, José Antonio Navarro, of whom a great deal could be said but which is perhaps best left for the time being.
Because José Antonio was on the point of starting work again, the judge decided it was time to slap the restraining order on him. He can't go near Calvia police or the town hall. On the point of starting work again? Where had he been? On sick leave. And seemingly so ever since he was released having spent 40 days banged up when he was arrested a couple of years ago. How does that all work? If there's a compliant doctor it can work easily enough, it would appear. The judge in the police corruption investigation wants to take action the doctor who signed off several Palma cops - all under suspicion - without even having seen them: he was going on medical reports from the prison.
Had there not been a restraining order or the subsequent suspension from duty, what might "Sick Note" José Antonio have been doing on his return after the prolonged absence? A spot of community policing perhaps? Likewise, what were the two former chiefs of police in Palma, both also faced with restraining orders and now suspended, doing? Innocent until and all that, but they don't appear to have been on sick leave, unlike the one before both of them who was.
This sordid affair, a corruption investigation more damaging than any of those into mere pilfering of public funds, throws up all manner of weirdness. It was revealed last week that a year ago there had been a phone call to the 112 emergency line from the San Fernando (Sant Ferran) police HQ which was complaining about the noise from an event that was taking place some two kilometres away at a club on the Paseo Marítimo.
This was for the Ella lesbian festival. In attendance, among others, were the mayor of Palma, José Hila, and tourism minister Biel Barceló. The call, and later ones from a mobile, were suspected to have come from an inspector named Capó, one of the police officers in Palma who is "imputado" in the corruption investigation. He denied in court having made the call (calls).
Returning to José María, it might be recalled that he once took action against Pilar Costa, now the spokesperson for the Balearic government, for having called him a "capo", which has a different meaning to "capó" when there is an accent. The latter means bonnet or hood of a car. Hood, however, might also be applicable to "capo" without an accent - a mafia boss. Judge Penalva, the investigating judge, who like the prosecutor Subiran has been given permission to carry a gun, described José María last month as the "architect in the shadows" of a corrupt organisation, an organisation the judge has also referred to as a criminal organisation.
Denial is everything.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Police Failure And Failing The Police
When is a policeman not a policeman? The answer is when a judge has slapped a restraining order on him entering police facilities. This is the situation as it applies to three (former) senior police officers - Palma's Joan Mut and Antonio Morey and Calvia's José Antonio Navarro. The judge investigating police corruption allegations - Manuel Penalva - has issued orders against the three. In the case of Mut, the restraining order also prevents him going within 300 metres of the "honest" cop who blew the whistle on him. Neither Mut nor Morey, furthermore, can go near the offices of Palma's councillor for public safety.
The cases of these three officers are not necessarily linked. There have been suggestions that alleged police corruption centred on Palma's and Calvia's nightlife districts do have some links, but no evidence has been revealed to indicate collusion. Only suggestions. This is, nonetheless, all part of the investigation that has been taking months and which shows little sign of being resolved in the short term, thus continuing to damage both forces.
The circumstances differ. Where Navarro is concerned, he was arrested and held in custody for some forty days and charged with corruption. The allegations centre on favours shown to certain businesses in Magalluf and harassment of rival businesses. He was released in October 2014 and has been replaced as head of Calvia's police force.
Mut faces charges of malfeasance and coercion. He was taped by another officer, the "honest" one, Antonio Ramis. That recording included an admission of altering evidence but also one of having done so under pressure from political superiors. He was eventually dismissed by the current town hall administration for "disobedience". He was succeeded by Morey who, a few months into his post, launched an astonishing attack on the judge, the anti-corruption prosecutor and the councillor for public safety, Angelica Pastor. While he appeared to offer a defence of certain officers who had been charged, he also brought into question the investigation, implying political motivations, and indeed the competence of officials, such as Pastor. His position was obviously untenable.
The cases go beyond allegations against police officers. Politicians are involved as well. Pastor's predecessor, Guillem Navarro, has been implicated, as have the former deputy mayor, Alvaro Gijón, and the president of the Partido Popular in Palma, José María Rodríguez. The latter is scheduled to appear before Judge Penalva tomorrow. Of evidence against him that has been leaking out are statements from members of the elite GAP (preventive action) unit in Palma which allege that he was instrumental in drafting in officers from Manacor who were to form a unit dedicated to the PP.
The charges against police officers in Palma - currently in custody or at liberty - include some extremely serious ones. Against the backdrop of arrests and the Penalva/anti-corruption prosecutor investigation, the town hall is remodelling the police force, just as it is being overhauled in Calvia. The belief is that restructuring and strengthened lines of reporting will prevent the types of allegations that have occurred from being repeated. They may well do, but in terms of practical application on the ground, how well are the police forces performing? There are complaints in Magalluf and Playa de Palma about a continuation of ineffective policing. Is restructuring merely political window-dressing that doesn't help the police because of lack of resources?
The political dimension cannot be ignored, whether it is the competence of political officials or their own corrupt practices (allegedly). In the case of Joan Mut, he himself took over from Antonio Vera, who was forced to resign because of involvement in the rigging of police promotion exams. (This was what in fact started the whole police corruption ball rolling.) While Mut does face charges, what does one make of his suggestion of there having been pressure from political superiors? Should there be some sympathy, if this were proved to be the case? No, you might say, he should have resigned. But a resignation has to be approved by political superiors.
There have unquestionably been major police failures in both Palma and Calvia. That these may have involved only a relatively limited number of officers does not eradicate feelings of a lack of confidence. The time that the investigations are dragging on do not help either. Where Calvia is concerned, we only now hear of Navarro's suspension. Are the police being failed, therefore, by a slow-moving judicial process and by politicians both past and present? Calvia (and Palma) have made repeated statements about improvements to forces, and yet the complaints persist, though in Calvia's defence, it should be noted that criticisms from the PP opposition have the distinct flavour of pot calling the kettle black. Above all, though, there is the suggestion of political involvement in police corruption. If so, were the police failed by politicians? Who were the instigators? Judge Penalva, albeit slowly, is finding out.
The cases of these three officers are not necessarily linked. There have been suggestions that alleged police corruption centred on Palma's and Calvia's nightlife districts do have some links, but no evidence has been revealed to indicate collusion. Only suggestions. This is, nonetheless, all part of the investigation that has been taking months and which shows little sign of being resolved in the short term, thus continuing to damage both forces.
The circumstances differ. Where Navarro is concerned, he was arrested and held in custody for some forty days and charged with corruption. The allegations centre on favours shown to certain businesses in Magalluf and harassment of rival businesses. He was released in October 2014 and has been replaced as head of Calvia's police force.
Mut faces charges of malfeasance and coercion. He was taped by another officer, the "honest" one, Antonio Ramis. That recording included an admission of altering evidence but also one of having done so under pressure from political superiors. He was eventually dismissed by the current town hall administration for "disobedience". He was succeeded by Morey who, a few months into his post, launched an astonishing attack on the judge, the anti-corruption prosecutor and the councillor for public safety, Angelica Pastor. While he appeared to offer a defence of certain officers who had been charged, he also brought into question the investigation, implying political motivations, and indeed the competence of officials, such as Pastor. His position was obviously untenable.
The cases go beyond allegations against police officers. Politicians are involved as well. Pastor's predecessor, Guillem Navarro, has been implicated, as have the former deputy mayor, Alvaro Gijón, and the president of the Partido Popular in Palma, José María Rodríguez. The latter is scheduled to appear before Judge Penalva tomorrow. Of evidence against him that has been leaking out are statements from members of the elite GAP (preventive action) unit in Palma which allege that he was instrumental in drafting in officers from Manacor who were to form a unit dedicated to the PP.
The charges against police officers in Palma - currently in custody or at liberty - include some extremely serious ones. Against the backdrop of arrests and the Penalva/anti-corruption prosecutor investigation, the town hall is remodelling the police force, just as it is being overhauled in Calvia. The belief is that restructuring and strengthened lines of reporting will prevent the types of allegations that have occurred from being repeated. They may well do, but in terms of practical application on the ground, how well are the police forces performing? There are complaints in Magalluf and Playa de Palma about a continuation of ineffective policing. Is restructuring merely political window-dressing that doesn't help the police because of lack of resources?
The political dimension cannot be ignored, whether it is the competence of political officials or their own corrupt practices (allegedly). In the case of Joan Mut, he himself took over from Antonio Vera, who was forced to resign because of involvement in the rigging of police promotion exams. (This was what in fact started the whole police corruption ball rolling.) While Mut does face charges, what does one make of his suggestion of there having been pressure from political superiors? Should there be some sympathy, if this were proved to be the case? No, you might say, he should have resigned. But a resignation has to be approved by political superiors.
There have unquestionably been major police failures in both Palma and Calvia. That these may have involved only a relatively limited number of officers does not eradicate feelings of a lack of confidence. The time that the investigations are dragging on do not help either. Where Calvia is concerned, we only now hear of Navarro's suspension. Are the police being failed, therefore, by a slow-moving judicial process and by politicians both past and present? Calvia (and Palma) have made repeated statements about improvements to forces, and yet the complaints persist, though in Calvia's defence, it should be noted that criticisms from the PP opposition have the distinct flavour of pot calling the kettle black. Above all, though, there is the suggestion of political involvement in police corruption. If so, were the police failed by politicians? Who were the instigators? Judge Penalva, albeit slowly, is finding out.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Do They Take Us For Fools?
The word had been that it was going to be more insane than ever. The word may well have been right. How many do you, do we, do they want dead? It's only just begun and yet the emergency services are equating it to high summer. Two dead in Magalluf. One in Santa Ponsa. Another badly injured in Palmanova. Half a dozen have fallen from balconies, two of them put into a body bag. The British media have a video of a dwarf whipping a groom-to-be during some warped S&M session in a bar. The local media have been highlighting gangs of chanting, drunken Germans blocking the main road in Arenal. They are following events in the notorious resorts like never before. It was going to be more insane than ever. Wasn't it?
Civic ordinance in Palma, civic ordinance to be introduced in Calvia. More resources. More powers for the authorities. Greater co-operation between businesses. Greater willingness of businesses to assist in a clean-up. Promises of this. Promises of that. It is more insane than ever. The so-called prostitutes more aggressive than ever. More driven by their criminal gang organisers than ever. The National Police taking measures to identify sources of criminal supply to the lookies who wander the streets of Palma with groundsheets and who lay them down on steps, on squares: Saharan bazaars in the centre of the Balearic capital. Pickpockets, daylight robbers, drug sellers. More of these, or at least they are the more that social media, with its wildfire spread of news, suggest. Who is to say there isn't more?
Reports of a trial into corruption among police, officials from the local authority and businesspeople. Reports replete with orgies and Russian prostitutes, the latter being afforded protection in order to give witness statements. Reports which follow last year - Magalluf and police arrests - and the year before, when Playa de Palma's police first came under investigation.
Write all the above, and there are those who hammer you for negativity, for exaggeration, for choosing only the blackspots. Avoid saying the above, and others lay into you for turning a blind eye and for complicity. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But avoidance has been part of the problem, as - for so many years - was a form of self-censorship or persuasion to play things down. You can't or shouldn't say that; it would be bad for tourism.
One person's bad is another person's good for tourism. If nothing else, Magalluf has taught us this. But this one-time reticence is no longer possible, not when there are videos of sex acts all over the internet, not when there is sensationalism on the pages of the British and German press, willing accomplices in generating ever more insanity. Too much past reticence and too many apologists, of whom there are still many. Maga, Arenal (and you can add one or two other places): they are what they are, tourists are coming for fun, to party. They are what they are, what they have been and what they will be.
To party, to have fun. Absolutely. Essences of holiday. For thousands upon thousands. For families, for older people, for younger people, none of whom can be blamed, and none of whom wish to be implicated in all the above or have any reason to be. Responsible tourism, a convenience of marketing with its environmental eco-righteousness that cannot disguise the business ambitions of hoteliers, of tour operators, of bar owners. Volume, they need volume, as do the planes. Responsible tourism is a two-way street and not only that of Punta Ballena. Whoever decreed that it was acceptable for foreigners (and Spaniards) to treat parts of Mallorca with such irresponsibility? Who the hell do they think they are?
But the blame game will say it's the fault of others. It is. But the fault stems from that old reticence, that old "persuasion". Bad for tourism. The heads were in the sand for years and years before some tourists - so hacked off with the persistent pestering - started to stick flags in the same sand bearing the legends: "no sunglasses, no massage". Complacency and a complicity of a different type. We all know who to blame.
It will be better, though, not more insane. Just wait for the ordinances to really kick in. For the end to drinking in the street. For the end to balconing because of the fines. Do they take us for fools? Hopefully, they will be right. Hopefully, it will improve. But who's doing the caring? Onieva? Isern? Martínez? All gone at the election. Maybe their replacements will, however, discover the legal wherewithal to deal with the greatest of the insanities - the mugging prostitutes of the streets - and not instead introduce fines for supposed clients. That beggars belief. The equivocation of victimary. Taken for fools.
Civic ordinance in Palma, civic ordinance to be introduced in Calvia. More resources. More powers for the authorities. Greater co-operation between businesses. Greater willingness of businesses to assist in a clean-up. Promises of this. Promises of that. It is more insane than ever. The so-called prostitutes more aggressive than ever. More driven by their criminal gang organisers than ever. The National Police taking measures to identify sources of criminal supply to the lookies who wander the streets of Palma with groundsheets and who lay them down on steps, on squares: Saharan bazaars in the centre of the Balearic capital. Pickpockets, daylight robbers, drug sellers. More of these, or at least they are the more that social media, with its wildfire spread of news, suggest. Who is to say there isn't more?
Reports of a trial into corruption among police, officials from the local authority and businesspeople. Reports replete with orgies and Russian prostitutes, the latter being afforded protection in order to give witness statements. Reports which follow last year - Magalluf and police arrests - and the year before, when Playa de Palma's police first came under investigation.
Write all the above, and there are those who hammer you for negativity, for exaggeration, for choosing only the blackspots. Avoid saying the above, and others lay into you for turning a blind eye and for complicity. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But avoidance has been part of the problem, as - for so many years - was a form of self-censorship or persuasion to play things down. You can't or shouldn't say that; it would be bad for tourism.
One person's bad is another person's good for tourism. If nothing else, Magalluf has taught us this. But this one-time reticence is no longer possible, not when there are videos of sex acts all over the internet, not when there is sensationalism on the pages of the British and German press, willing accomplices in generating ever more insanity. Too much past reticence and too many apologists, of whom there are still many. Maga, Arenal (and you can add one or two other places): they are what they are, tourists are coming for fun, to party. They are what they are, what they have been and what they will be.
To party, to have fun. Absolutely. Essences of holiday. For thousands upon thousands. For families, for older people, for younger people, none of whom can be blamed, and none of whom wish to be implicated in all the above or have any reason to be. Responsible tourism, a convenience of marketing with its environmental eco-righteousness that cannot disguise the business ambitions of hoteliers, of tour operators, of bar owners. Volume, they need volume, as do the planes. Responsible tourism is a two-way street and not only that of Punta Ballena. Whoever decreed that it was acceptable for foreigners (and Spaniards) to treat parts of Mallorca with such irresponsibility? Who the hell do they think they are?
But the blame game will say it's the fault of others. It is. But the fault stems from that old reticence, that old "persuasion". Bad for tourism. The heads were in the sand for years and years before some tourists - so hacked off with the persistent pestering - started to stick flags in the same sand bearing the legends: "no sunglasses, no massage". Complacency and a complicity of a different type. We all know who to blame.
It will be better, though, not more insane. Just wait for the ordinances to really kick in. For the end to drinking in the street. For the end to balconing because of the fines. Do they take us for fools? Hopefully, they will be right. Hopefully, it will improve. But who's doing the caring? Onieva? Isern? Martínez? All gone at the election. Maybe their replacements will, however, discover the legal wherewithal to deal with the greatest of the insanities - the mugging prostitutes of the streets - and not instead introduce fines for supposed clients. That beggars belief. The equivocation of victimary. Taken for fools.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
The Good Cops Of The Resorts
German tourists in Playa de Palma have started to take things into their hands. They have been making posters which can be stuck into the sand which declare "no sunglasses", "no massage". There are also t-shirts bearing the same messages. The targets of these messages should be obvious. Other German tourists have been behaving in a somewhat less responsible fashion. On more than one occasion, great hordes of them have taken to the main road, chanting and blocking traffic.
There is a common thread to these two separate examples of how tourists behave. The local police. Here is a resort which is subject to a city ordinance that was designed to bring an end to (or at least reduce) anti-social behaviour and illegal trades. Yet, there are tourists who are so fed up with the pestering they receive from the lookies and the massage girls that they have sought to deter them, while there are others who appear to be able to brazenly take to the streets (a main road no less) and conduct themselves in a wholly inappropriate manner. Where are the police?
Well, one factor is that the reinforcement of local police numbers isn't due to take effect until 1 June. Why? The tourism season, in a sort of official sense, starts on 1 May; in truth, it does of course start earlier. Is a 1 June commencement for the reinforcement a reflection of the laments that the season has become ever shorter? It shouldn't be. The security forces should not be bound by notions of seasonality.
Local police numbers can of course only ever be finite. Resources dictate this. Police numbers are dwarfed by the sheer volume of visitors - both welcome and unwelcome. There is mitigation, therefore. They, the finite numbers which exist, can't be everywhere. Nevertheless, these examples from Playa de Palma highlight a problem - not just one of police numbers but of image.
Last summer, the public prosecutor started the second phase of an investigation into the local police force that had been opened the previous September. Various police officers were being looked into. Allegations included trafficking of influence and bribery. The Guardia Civil had been called in and had raided a police station in 2013.
Earlier this year, a well-known businessman (unnamed) with interests in nightlife in Playa de Palma was arrested. This investigation is now in court. Witnesses have been giving evidence of payments to one officer for "turning a blind eye", who was apparently prone to visiting one particular club owner in seeking ever more payment. These witnesses have also spoken of orgies involving prostitutes which were attended by public officials, including one mayor from the "part forana" of Mallorca, i.e. away from Palma. Police officers did not, according to witnesses, attend these orgies, but there were alleged "arrangements" for alcohol and sex, though never payments.
This investigation and the complaints about an absence of police in the resort are not linked, except in one way: image. They might also be said to be linked through an issue of morale. The good cops are operating against a background of an ongoing investigation into allegedly bad cops. While lookies and massage girls patrol the beaches and German tourists maraud across the main road and can all do so with apparent impunity, a link - however false - might be made. The good cops are damned, and unreasonably so, by association.
There is of course a similarity between events in Playa de Palma and those in Magalluf. Police corruption allegations arose there last summer, and with the new season upon us, the good cops - and the Guardia - appear to still have their hands tied by regulations that do not allow them to tackle the resort's principal problem of the mugging prostitutes, while, for reasons that baffle many, they cannot yet enforce local ordinance designed to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Whether this ordinance, once it is in place, achieves what it is designed to is questioned by many, just as it is in Playa de Palma. And if it fails, then the image of the police (and of politicians) will be dented further. Some bad cops may have brought this negative image upon themselves and, by association, their forces, but the good cops have to be given the means.
There is this vast gap between developments of resort embellishment and improvement and the lights of the more seedy infrastructure which attracts the moths of poor behaviour and criminality. Tourism will always attract these, but they don't have to be a given or to be to the extent that they are, and until such a time as the greater excesses are truly stamped on and stamped out, the investments of embellishment will be undermined, their returns limited by this at present unreconcilable discrepancy. Give the cops what they need - the good ones, that is - but, by God, make sure they are the good ones.
There is a common thread to these two separate examples of how tourists behave. The local police. Here is a resort which is subject to a city ordinance that was designed to bring an end to (or at least reduce) anti-social behaviour and illegal trades. Yet, there are tourists who are so fed up with the pestering they receive from the lookies and the massage girls that they have sought to deter them, while there are others who appear to be able to brazenly take to the streets (a main road no less) and conduct themselves in a wholly inappropriate manner. Where are the police?
Well, one factor is that the reinforcement of local police numbers isn't due to take effect until 1 June. Why? The tourism season, in a sort of official sense, starts on 1 May; in truth, it does of course start earlier. Is a 1 June commencement for the reinforcement a reflection of the laments that the season has become ever shorter? It shouldn't be. The security forces should not be bound by notions of seasonality.
Local police numbers can of course only ever be finite. Resources dictate this. Police numbers are dwarfed by the sheer volume of visitors - both welcome and unwelcome. There is mitigation, therefore. They, the finite numbers which exist, can't be everywhere. Nevertheless, these examples from Playa de Palma highlight a problem - not just one of police numbers but of image.
Last summer, the public prosecutor started the second phase of an investigation into the local police force that had been opened the previous September. Various police officers were being looked into. Allegations included trafficking of influence and bribery. The Guardia Civil had been called in and had raided a police station in 2013.
Earlier this year, a well-known businessman (unnamed) with interests in nightlife in Playa de Palma was arrested. This investigation is now in court. Witnesses have been giving evidence of payments to one officer for "turning a blind eye", who was apparently prone to visiting one particular club owner in seeking ever more payment. These witnesses have also spoken of orgies involving prostitutes which were attended by public officials, including one mayor from the "part forana" of Mallorca, i.e. away from Palma. Police officers did not, according to witnesses, attend these orgies, but there were alleged "arrangements" for alcohol and sex, though never payments.
This investigation and the complaints about an absence of police in the resort are not linked, except in one way: image. They might also be said to be linked through an issue of morale. The good cops are operating against a background of an ongoing investigation into allegedly bad cops. While lookies and massage girls patrol the beaches and German tourists maraud across the main road and can all do so with apparent impunity, a link - however false - might be made. The good cops are damned, and unreasonably so, by association.
There is of course a similarity between events in Playa de Palma and those in Magalluf. Police corruption allegations arose there last summer, and with the new season upon us, the good cops - and the Guardia - appear to still have their hands tied by regulations that do not allow them to tackle the resort's principal problem of the mugging prostitutes, while, for reasons that baffle many, they cannot yet enforce local ordinance designed to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Whether this ordinance, once it is in place, achieves what it is designed to is questioned by many, just as it is in Playa de Palma. And if it fails, then the image of the police (and of politicians) will be dented further. Some bad cops may have brought this negative image upon themselves and, by association, their forces, but the good cops have to be given the means.
There is this vast gap between developments of resort embellishment and improvement and the lights of the more seedy infrastructure which attracts the moths of poor behaviour and criminality. Tourism will always attract these, but they don't have to be a given or to be to the extent that they are, and until such a time as the greater excesses are truly stamped on and stamped out, the investments of embellishment will be undermined, their returns limited by this at present unreconcilable discrepancy. Give the cops what they need - the good ones, that is - but, by God, make sure they are the good ones.
Sunday, February 01, 2015
The Endemic Nature Of Corruption
Well, here's a surprise. A Partido Popular politician has admitted that corruption is "an endemic problem", this politician being Palma's mayor Mateo Isern. He wasn't, however, referring to his party, but to the local police. Isern's statement and his actions in having immediately suspended without pay certain officers facing corruption allegations contrast greatly with the equivocation in Calvia when there were arrests of officers there, though to be fair the allegations that relate to Playa de Palma do appear to be greater and involve more police than was the case in Magalluf. But for Isern to say that there is endemic corruption is quite an admission, one which, while it may be thought welcome, does makes one wonder how officers who are not corrupt might feel about such blanket an assertion.
As Isern will not be standing again as mayor, he may feel he can make such sweeping statements; he has nothing to lose by doing so, other perhaps than his reputation. But he has moved to salvage any potential damage to this by apologising for not having been able to detect these cases and by setting up an internal unit that will investigate "irregularities" and bequeath to his successor an "unpolluted police". One hopes that this is what emerges, but his observation that he (and so therefore others in the town hall) has been unable to do any detection leads one to ask why. Accusations of local police corruption in Playa de Palma, and in Magalluf, have been made over the years; not necessarily formally but certainly anecdotally. No smoke without fire and all that, some accusations will undoubtedly have been wild ones, but as there has at least been a sense that not everything was right, then some town-hall detective work had surely been called for. Endemic corruption, if this is indeed so, does not suddenly emerge. For it to be endemic, it has to have existed over a substantial period of time and to have become ingrained. It has taken the investigations of the National Police and the Guardia Civil to have finally exposed this endemism, but the very nature of such a culture should have been apparent to the town hall long before. Why was it not able?
As Isern will not be standing again as mayor, he may feel he can make such sweeping statements; he has nothing to lose by doing so, other perhaps than his reputation. But he has moved to salvage any potential damage to this by apologising for not having been able to detect these cases and by setting up an internal unit that will investigate "irregularities" and bequeath to his successor an "unpolluted police". One hopes that this is what emerges, but his observation that he (and so therefore others in the town hall) has been unable to do any detection leads one to ask why. Accusations of local police corruption in Playa de Palma, and in Magalluf, have been made over the years; not necessarily formally but certainly anecdotally. No smoke without fire and all that, some accusations will undoubtedly have been wild ones, but as there has at least been a sense that not everything was right, then some town-hall detective work had surely been called for. Endemic corruption, if this is indeed so, does not suddenly emerge. For it to be endemic, it has to have existed over a substantial period of time and to have become ingrained. It has taken the investigations of the National Police and the Guardia Civil to have finally exposed this endemism, but the very nature of such a culture should have been apparent to the town hall long before. Why was it not able?
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
In The Blink Of An Eye: Pickpocketing
I cannot explain why, but in an Eroski store yesterday I suddenly turned my head. What I saw in that flash was a woman, tall, in a greyish sort of dress. In front of her was a boy, her son, with a cap on. Why had I suddenly looked at them? I don't know. But what I didn't see was the whole picture. A moment or so later, while I was studying the green peppers in the greengrocery section, I heard a wail and a crying. It was the woman. A member of staff came to her. She had been robbed. Her purse had been lifted from her bag.
I have, or try to have, an acute sense of where I am. Especially in supermarkets in summer. As I enter I look at people. As I go along aisles, I am looking at people. Turning and glancing. I know to be aware. I have seen it happen too often. Or have I? There was one time, in front of the same supermarket, I could see it unfolding. The woman approached the two tourists. But I didn't see it. I knew what was happening but I didn't see. Or maybe I did but a momentary sense of disbelief, a suspension of belief had prevented me from seeing. My mouth went temporarily dumb. By the time I shouted and ran up to the two tourists, she had gone. Nowhere. She had evaporated.
There is an article on the BBC website about how pickpockets use not so much sleight of hand but tricks to fool the mind. The article says, among other things, that "our brains come pretty much hard-wired to be tricked, thanks to the vagaries of our attention and perception systems" and that "(pickpocketing) is as much about capturing all of somebody's attention with other movements", "it's complete attentional overload".
The article talks about how specific movements can fool us. Moving the hand in an arc is far better at holding our attention to the end point of the movement than moving the hand in a straight line. This has to do with saccade, the fast movement of the eye. In a straight line, there is a blind period. With an arc, there is no blind period, the eye follows the movement continuously.
I'm not saying that hand movements or other attention-changing means have been adopted by pickpockets at the supermarket and nor am I saying that I had some sixth sense which made me seemingly involuntarily and suddenly turn and look at the woman, but I am saying that even being hyper-alert or aware can be of little use if the brain is tricked. If it fails to see. Something had made me want to look but then, for whatever reason, I didn't see. After the event, I remembered there was someone else.
In this moment of a blink of an eye, of a trick of the mind, of guard going down, of unawareness, a holiday was ruined. The woman, Russian, was in a desperate state. She was still in a desperate state outside the store where she was waiting for her husband. Between her blubs she said that she had been abroad many times and that nothing like this had ever happened.
Her desperation was all the greater because she had been abandoned. I hadn't initially noticed the other child in the buggy. Now I did. The woman looked as though she was pregnant. What could I say to her? Why, she asked, were there no cameras in the store? Why indeed? And why no security? Or why is not possible for a victim to be given some help by the store? Why is she left outside in the sun, sobbing, waiting for her husband?
It happens all the time of course. Opportunistic pickpocketing, the flower women, the professional gangs, the bumpers-into, the distractors, the total-attention-grabbers, the ones with hand movements. They are all here. It happens all the time. You should have taken greater care, been more aware. Ah yes, more aware. But sometimes even the aware can be tricked.
I discovered later, was told anyway, that literature advising of potential risks such as pickpocketing was not produced because it would create a "bad image". How much bad image do the resorts need which is the product of inaction, inertia and a failure to warn? How much bad image through there being no assistance for a distraught tourist?
I now have a mobile phone number for the tourist police in Alcúdia. But who else has the number? Supermarkets? Bars? And is the number for the SPAT police, the agents unveiled in May who can assist tourists in their own language? One of whom, it might just have been hoped, could have come to the help of a Russian tourist abandoned outside a supermarket.
* http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140629-how-pickpockets-trick-your-mind
I have, or try to have, an acute sense of where I am. Especially in supermarkets in summer. As I enter I look at people. As I go along aisles, I am looking at people. Turning and glancing. I know to be aware. I have seen it happen too often. Or have I? There was one time, in front of the same supermarket, I could see it unfolding. The woman approached the two tourists. But I didn't see it. I knew what was happening but I didn't see. Or maybe I did but a momentary sense of disbelief, a suspension of belief had prevented me from seeing. My mouth went temporarily dumb. By the time I shouted and ran up to the two tourists, she had gone. Nowhere. She had evaporated.
There is an article on the BBC website about how pickpockets use not so much sleight of hand but tricks to fool the mind. The article says, among other things, that "our brains come pretty much hard-wired to be tricked, thanks to the vagaries of our attention and perception systems" and that "(pickpocketing) is as much about capturing all of somebody's attention with other movements", "it's complete attentional overload".
The article talks about how specific movements can fool us. Moving the hand in an arc is far better at holding our attention to the end point of the movement than moving the hand in a straight line. This has to do with saccade, the fast movement of the eye. In a straight line, there is a blind period. With an arc, there is no blind period, the eye follows the movement continuously.
I'm not saying that hand movements or other attention-changing means have been adopted by pickpockets at the supermarket and nor am I saying that I had some sixth sense which made me seemingly involuntarily and suddenly turn and look at the woman, but I am saying that even being hyper-alert or aware can be of little use if the brain is tricked. If it fails to see. Something had made me want to look but then, for whatever reason, I didn't see. After the event, I remembered there was someone else.
In this moment of a blink of an eye, of a trick of the mind, of guard going down, of unawareness, a holiday was ruined. The woman, Russian, was in a desperate state. She was still in a desperate state outside the store where she was waiting for her husband. Between her blubs she said that she had been abroad many times and that nothing like this had ever happened.
Her desperation was all the greater because she had been abandoned. I hadn't initially noticed the other child in the buggy. Now I did. The woman looked as though she was pregnant. What could I say to her? Why, she asked, were there no cameras in the store? Why indeed? And why no security? Or why is not possible for a victim to be given some help by the store? Why is she left outside in the sun, sobbing, waiting for her husband?
It happens all the time of course. Opportunistic pickpocketing, the flower women, the professional gangs, the bumpers-into, the distractors, the total-attention-grabbers, the ones with hand movements. They are all here. It happens all the time. You should have taken greater care, been more aware. Ah yes, more aware. But sometimes even the aware can be tricked.
I discovered later, was told anyway, that literature advising of potential risks such as pickpocketing was not produced because it would create a "bad image". How much bad image do the resorts need which is the product of inaction, inertia and a failure to warn? How much bad image through there being no assistance for a distraught tourist?
I now have a mobile phone number for the tourist police in Alcúdia. But who else has the number? Supermarkets? Bars? And is the number for the SPAT police, the agents unveiled in May who can assist tourists in their own language? One of whom, it might just have been hoped, could have come to the help of a Russian tourist abandoned outside a supermarket.
* http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140629-how-pickpockets-trick-your-mind
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Everything Is Upside Down
"Todo patas arriba". Everything's upside down. Or everything's in a mess. It is a legend that is splattered across the front cover of a magazine and over two photos of building work which is taking place on the streets of a resort in summer. This is a very interesting magazine. So interesting is it, that I am devoting much of this article to translating parts of articles from it. Let's start with the editorial leader.
"Never again. The situation, which is unfortunately shown on our cover, should not be repeated: the main streets, the most touristic, with work being done in July and August! Unbelievable. Unheard of. Our visitors cannot hide their amazement. How can this type of work be done during these months? Ah, Spain is different, my friends; you know that. We don't believe that this would happen in any other tourist country, least of all in Europe.
"We know the town hall's explanation. In winter, building companies are too busy to deal with our needs. You have to catch them when you can... But that's not our problem. It is one for the representatives we elected for four years, to make our lives better and to not mess up and cause significant damage to businesses."
On another page, there is an article with a headline which says that 1,300 million (pesetas) are to be spent on changing an image.
"(The deputy mayor) has explained to us that the town hall wishes to beautify the resort. 'We are aware of the need for an urgent change of image. We want to literally upholster the resort in green. Pavements with trees, benches, new lighting in an area where the "hooligan" currently sits. (One avenue) will be transformed into a true boulevard with fountains, benches, trees and plants.' "
The article's author is sceptical. All this is to be done within three years. "We'll see," he concludes questioningly. There will be municipal elections well before the three years are up.
There is also an interview with the local police officer who is responsible for the organisation of police resources. It is under the headline "Restructuring of the municipal police". The restructuring has come about, says the officer, in order to take account of specific needs in the municipality. There are four main priorities. These are the "venta ambulante" (looky-lookies), "tiqueteros" (PRs), night-time noise and public order at night as well as security on the beaches. The police on the beaches will be plainclothes cops. They will mingle with the holidaymakers and their mission will be to prevent the venta ambulante and any type of (unlicensed) service on the beach. The police hope that their presence will act in deterring these illegal activities. "Rather than a repressive action, it will be a preventative action."
Elsewhere, there is a short letter to the magazine which reads: "Friends and neighbours, as the new spokesperson for the neighbourhood association, I hope for the collaboration of all residents, working together as an association of friends in this time of crisis in order to cure all the ills in the area, to beautify and enrich it and enhance our local heritage".
Moving on from the contents of this magazine, it might be noted that on 8 May this year there was an item from a website in which the PSOE opposition criticised the start of building works in resorts during the tourist season. The opposition said that there was indignation among businesses and neighbours and concluded that the lack of planning by the Partido Popular was inconceivable when such work should be done in winter.
It might also be noted that a plan for resort beautification has now been drawn up and will include a true boulevard as part of a change of image. It might further be noted that beach security is such that there now has to be illumination of the beach, while it might also be noted that a newspaper recently ran a report into a territorial battle between tiqueteros. Total war, said the report.
By way of explanation of these notes, the PSOE opposition was criticising building work that had started in Magalluf, the true boulevard (finally) is included in the Meliá plan to make Magalluf up-market, the illuminated beach is that of Magalluf, the PRs' battle is around BCM Square.
Nothing really changes, does it. Nothing has really changed, has it. Even the odd name is the same. The name of the letter-writer from the neighbourhood association is José Tirado. I am guessing he is the same Pepe Tirado of the Acotur tourist businesses association. It is a guess as I can't be one hundred per cent certain. There again, it was all a very long time ago. The magazine I have quoted from was "Entre Tots". Its date? July-August 1989.
"Never again. The situation, which is unfortunately shown on our cover, should not be repeated: the main streets, the most touristic, with work being done in July and August! Unbelievable. Unheard of. Our visitors cannot hide their amazement. How can this type of work be done during these months? Ah, Spain is different, my friends; you know that. We don't believe that this would happen in any other tourist country, least of all in Europe.
"We know the town hall's explanation. In winter, building companies are too busy to deal with our needs. You have to catch them when you can... But that's not our problem. It is one for the representatives we elected for four years, to make our lives better and to not mess up and cause significant damage to businesses."
On another page, there is an article with a headline which says that 1,300 million (pesetas) are to be spent on changing an image.
"(The deputy mayor) has explained to us that the town hall wishes to beautify the resort. 'We are aware of the need for an urgent change of image. We want to literally upholster the resort in green. Pavements with trees, benches, new lighting in an area where the "hooligan" currently sits. (One avenue) will be transformed into a true boulevard with fountains, benches, trees and plants.' "
The article's author is sceptical. All this is to be done within three years. "We'll see," he concludes questioningly. There will be municipal elections well before the three years are up.
There is also an interview with the local police officer who is responsible for the organisation of police resources. It is under the headline "Restructuring of the municipal police". The restructuring has come about, says the officer, in order to take account of specific needs in the municipality. There are four main priorities. These are the "venta ambulante" (looky-lookies), "tiqueteros" (PRs), night-time noise and public order at night as well as security on the beaches. The police on the beaches will be plainclothes cops. They will mingle with the holidaymakers and their mission will be to prevent the venta ambulante and any type of (unlicensed) service on the beach. The police hope that their presence will act in deterring these illegal activities. "Rather than a repressive action, it will be a preventative action."
Elsewhere, there is a short letter to the magazine which reads: "Friends and neighbours, as the new spokesperson for the neighbourhood association, I hope for the collaboration of all residents, working together as an association of friends in this time of crisis in order to cure all the ills in the area, to beautify and enrich it and enhance our local heritage".
Moving on from the contents of this magazine, it might be noted that on 8 May this year there was an item from a website in which the PSOE opposition criticised the start of building works in resorts during the tourist season. The opposition said that there was indignation among businesses and neighbours and concluded that the lack of planning by the Partido Popular was inconceivable when such work should be done in winter.
It might also be noted that a plan for resort beautification has now been drawn up and will include a true boulevard as part of a change of image. It might further be noted that beach security is such that there now has to be illumination of the beach, while it might also be noted that a newspaper recently ran a report into a territorial battle between tiqueteros. Total war, said the report.
By way of explanation of these notes, the PSOE opposition was criticising building work that had started in Magalluf, the true boulevard (finally) is included in the Meliá plan to make Magalluf up-market, the illuminated beach is that of Magalluf, the PRs' battle is around BCM Square.
Nothing really changes, does it. Nothing has really changed, has it. Even the odd name is the same. The name of the letter-writer from the neighbourhood association is José Tirado. I am guessing he is the same Pepe Tirado of the Acotur tourist businesses association. It is a guess as I can't be one hundred per cent certain. There again, it was all a very long time ago. The magazine I have quoted from was "Entre Tots". Its date? July-August 1989.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Police clash with a hundred looky-looky men in Playa de Palma
Early yesterday morning, local police, later assisted by National Police, clashed with some 100 illegal street-sellers (looky-looky men) in Playa de Palma, following the arrest of one their number after he had tried to assault a police officer. By the time that the National Police turned up, however, the lookies had dispersed. A comment in this report by a German tourist does perhaps sum up what goes on with incidents such as this: "They are laughing at the police but they (the police) do nothing. In Germany they would all be arrested". Which is doubtless the case, but a problem the police in Mallorca have is that, even if they arrest the illegal street-sellers, there is little they can do with them. If an assault occurs, this is one thing, but for infractions such as illegal selling, detentions only mean clogging up cells and being unable to extract fines.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Unbelievable Remedies: Magalluf
Incidents centred on Magalluf's Punta Ballena have decreased considerably. Thus spake a newspaper report of 15 August. "Great evils" require "grand remedies", it was said. These great evils were implied rather than defined and they were hyperbole; the committing of great evils in modern-day Mallorca is a rare occurrence.
But never let it be said that exaggerated words cannot exaggerate situations. This is why there is such a thing as exaggeration. Its purpose is distortion or disproportion. From great evils do grand or great remedies come. The greater the evil, the grander the remedy and so therefore the greater the rejoicing at deliverance from evil.
The grand remedies (equally disproportionate insofar as there can be such a thing as an equal measure of disproportion) can be counted. Counted on fewer than the total number of fingers on both hands. Take away the thumbs and you have the numerical value of the remedies. Eight. Eight local police officers. The magnificent seven plus one. Incidents have decreased considerably.
It would be nice to believe that Punta Ballena has been or is being delivered from evil. Or evils. Nice to believe, but there are plenty of unbelievers. Decreased considerably? Depends. The report's evils were related to the great drunken unwashed. The lesser of evils in that remedies are less grand. They don't have to be super-grand where youthful tourists who are off their faces are concerned. It is, nevertheless, reasonable to ask why the not so grand remedy of a few more cops to tackle the lagering, Jägerbombing, shot-shooting, laughing-gassing invasion force took as long as it did to occur to anyone. Not, or so it would seem, that the eight make a great deal of difference. Despite what the considerable-decrease report suggests to the contrary.
Four days before this report, Javier Pierotti posted again on his "Magaluf Caos" blog. His video with this post was as troubling as the one he had originally posted of a driver trapped by a mob along the strip. It would take far too long to summarise what Javier said in his entry for 11 August, but if you go to the bottom of it, you will see that, in addition to Calvia town hall, he has sent his complaint to television and other media organisations in Spain as well as to the Spanish Government, the Interior Ministry, police agencies, the regional government in the Balearics, the courts in Palma, the Attorney-General, the British Consulate and the Complaints Office of the European Community.
Four days later came the report in the local press. Not about Javier's complaint but about incidents having decreased considerably, a considerable decrease that appears at variance with what is being said by those who aren't in positions of authority. The considerable-decrease report, moreover, did not mention the problems of prostitutes, looky-looky men and violence. There are plenty of people who have mentioned them. Before and since the report of 15 August. Are these the greater evils; greater because they go un-decreased?
Javier Pierotti does not seek to attach blame to the local police. Others do. It is wise that I don't repeat some of the things said on social media, but from what is said, there is clear frustration and anger in Magalluf. The police are one target for this discontent but the greater one is the body politic, in particular that which, to paraphrase some of the sentiments, lies inert in a bunker in Calvia.
What happens in Mallorca stays in Mallorca. It's a ridiculous saying because nothing can stay in Mallorca any longer. The reactions to Stacey Dooley (and to "Bild" on Playa de Palma) were absurd for various reasons, one of which was that they neglected the fact that conventional media are only one part of the story. Through social media, nothing stays in Mallorca. Regular on-the-spot reports by those who have not taken the media shilling and who have no axe to grind other than that they have had it with all the problems are constantly reinforced and added to: hourly, daily, weekly. They too can be prone to exaggeration or distortion. They can be and often are far more accusatory than conventional media. There may be exaggerations, but why would people who work and live in Magalluf invent things? They stand to lose, which is why they draw attention to what they see as inertia and indifference. And why when, four days after Javier Pierotti* posted that he had notified who he had notified, the report of incidents decreasing considerably was greeted with disbelief.
* http://javierpierotti.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/magaluf-caos-ii.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
But never let it be said that exaggerated words cannot exaggerate situations. This is why there is such a thing as exaggeration. Its purpose is distortion or disproportion. From great evils do grand or great remedies come. The greater the evil, the grander the remedy and so therefore the greater the rejoicing at deliverance from evil.
The grand remedies (equally disproportionate insofar as there can be such a thing as an equal measure of disproportion) can be counted. Counted on fewer than the total number of fingers on both hands. Take away the thumbs and you have the numerical value of the remedies. Eight. Eight local police officers. The magnificent seven plus one. Incidents have decreased considerably.
It would be nice to believe that Punta Ballena has been or is being delivered from evil. Or evils. Nice to believe, but there are plenty of unbelievers. Decreased considerably? Depends. The report's evils were related to the great drunken unwashed. The lesser of evils in that remedies are less grand. They don't have to be super-grand where youthful tourists who are off their faces are concerned. It is, nevertheless, reasonable to ask why the not so grand remedy of a few more cops to tackle the lagering, Jägerbombing, shot-shooting, laughing-gassing invasion force took as long as it did to occur to anyone. Not, or so it would seem, that the eight make a great deal of difference. Despite what the considerable-decrease report suggests to the contrary.
Four days before this report, Javier Pierotti posted again on his "Magaluf Caos" blog. His video with this post was as troubling as the one he had originally posted of a driver trapped by a mob along the strip. It would take far too long to summarise what Javier said in his entry for 11 August, but if you go to the bottom of it, you will see that, in addition to Calvia town hall, he has sent his complaint to television and other media organisations in Spain as well as to the Spanish Government, the Interior Ministry, police agencies, the regional government in the Balearics, the courts in Palma, the Attorney-General, the British Consulate and the Complaints Office of the European Community.
Four days later came the report in the local press. Not about Javier's complaint but about incidents having decreased considerably, a considerable decrease that appears at variance with what is being said by those who aren't in positions of authority. The considerable-decrease report, moreover, did not mention the problems of prostitutes, looky-looky men and violence. There are plenty of people who have mentioned them. Before and since the report of 15 August. Are these the greater evils; greater because they go un-decreased?
Javier Pierotti does not seek to attach blame to the local police. Others do. It is wise that I don't repeat some of the things said on social media, but from what is said, there is clear frustration and anger in Magalluf. The police are one target for this discontent but the greater one is the body politic, in particular that which, to paraphrase some of the sentiments, lies inert in a bunker in Calvia.
What happens in Mallorca stays in Mallorca. It's a ridiculous saying because nothing can stay in Mallorca any longer. The reactions to Stacey Dooley (and to "Bild" on Playa de Palma) were absurd for various reasons, one of which was that they neglected the fact that conventional media are only one part of the story. Through social media, nothing stays in Mallorca. Regular on-the-spot reports by those who have not taken the media shilling and who have no axe to grind other than that they have had it with all the problems are constantly reinforced and added to: hourly, daily, weekly. They too can be prone to exaggeration or distortion. They can be and often are far more accusatory than conventional media. There may be exaggerations, but why would people who work and live in Magalluf invent things? They stand to lose, which is why they draw attention to what they see as inertia and indifference. And why when, four days after Javier Pierotti* posted that he had notified who he had notified, the report of incidents decreasing considerably was greeted with disbelief.
* http://javierpierotti.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/magaluf-caos-ii.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Strengthened police presence for Alcúdia end-of-school-year party
The now traditional party in Puerto Alcúdia to mark the end of the school year will take place tomorrow evening and night. The party, basically a gathering of mainly older schoolchildren from numerous towns in northern and central Mallorca, is expected to attract some 7000 kids. Police tutors from at least nine towns will complement Alcúdia police in maintaining order for an event that typically creates very few incidents of any significance.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Years Of Doing Nothing: Trouble in Magalluf
Something that was conveniently ignored when there was all the absurd ballyhoo regarding the BBC's "Truth About Magalluf" documentary was the fact that it is not only the British media which takes an interest in the seamier side of Mallorcan tourism. Germany's is pretty keen to as well. And so is the Spanish, which includes, therefore, Mallorcan.
The attitude towards Magalluf among Mallorcans is far from positive. I don't recall a Mallorcan ever having had a good word to say about the place. There must be some, maybe those who make a living from Magalluf's tourism, but the resort's name has been dragged through as much local mud as it has foreign mud.
For the Mallorcan, Magalluf is drunkenness and hooliganism, and primarily British drunkenness and hooliganism. The average Mallorcan may never have even been to Magalluf because, rather like pompous Brits who manage to pontificate about Magalluf despite never having set foot in the place, they have no desire to be confronted by lagered-up, tattoo-ed-up moronism. This average Mallorcan can express his or her displeasure, despite being in close proximity to similar moronism elsewhere. And it's not just moronism. There are all those tacky bars in Magalluf, aren't there, of which of course there are no examples anywhere else in Mallorca.
Fair do's, Magalluf is extreme in that its excesses are worse than other resorts. This much is undeniable, but its extremism and its excesses are partly the consequence of a laxity that exists all over Mallorca, one that has, for years, permitted or turned a blind eye to poor behaviour, drunkenness, prostitution and illegal street-selling. Magalluf is the repugnant tip of a not always pleasant iceberg. A key reason for it having become this tip is that there will always be specific locations in which there is a concentration of the less than pleasant. It just so happens that Magalluf is Mallorca's.
The season barely underway, and there are already reports concerning the resort's prostitutes. One has been arrested for attacking attacking two British tourists, striking one on the back with a beer bottle, and stealing their mobiles. Everyone knows that these prostitutes are not on the game but are mobile mobile-robbers and robbers of anything else they can lay their hands on. Calvià town hall has made much of its intention to get to grips with the problem this summer, and maybe it will. But it is a problem that has arisen through a build-up over several years of what was initially just roguish petty criminality (that of the looky-looky men with their fake gear) into something rather more serious.
Magalluf bears the brunt of this more serious crime because of what it is. Clean it up, though, and will the problem go away or will it just go elsewhere? Things have a habit of doing so. Take scratch card, time-share touts. They were driven out and so turned up in Puerto Alcúdia, and it took a few years for them to be moved on; the particularly aggressive ones, that is.
The police, far from being idle or far from deserving criticism for being inactive, have a devil's own job. As do town halls. Street criminals can be picked up, they can be slung in a cell, but then what? They rarely have means to pay fines. They often have no fixed abodes. What do the police do with them? They could denounce them, haul them up in front of a judge, ask for a prison term, but they would end up costing money. They could request their deportation, but how long would that procedure take? How much would it cost? No, the police deserve an awful lot of sympathy.
Where there can be criticism for inaction dates back many years. It was a failure way back when to come to terms with the relatively minor street-selling infractions of the lookies which has now spiralled up to what can occur in Magalluf. This failure was not only one of officialdom, it was one also of tourists, who played along with the looky game, and of residents, among whom were and are Mallorcans, who would happily buy fake goods and still do buy them.
Magalluf is, therefore, a localised culmination of historical blind-eyeing. And because it's Magalluf and because also of the BBC ballyhoo, the Spanish media are even more on the case. Another report just into the season speaks of the "hooligans" having returned. It also speaks of counting 25 street-sellers (lookies, in other words) and 15 Asian massage girls. Shocking? Of course not. You can go to somewhere genteel like Puerto Pollensa and you would be able to count similar numbers were you to hang around long enough. And the reason why is because nothing was done years ago.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The attitude towards Magalluf among Mallorcans is far from positive. I don't recall a Mallorcan ever having had a good word to say about the place. There must be some, maybe those who make a living from Magalluf's tourism, but the resort's name has been dragged through as much local mud as it has foreign mud.
For the Mallorcan, Magalluf is drunkenness and hooliganism, and primarily British drunkenness and hooliganism. The average Mallorcan may never have even been to Magalluf because, rather like pompous Brits who manage to pontificate about Magalluf despite never having set foot in the place, they have no desire to be confronted by lagered-up, tattoo-ed-up moronism. This average Mallorcan can express his or her displeasure, despite being in close proximity to similar moronism elsewhere. And it's not just moronism. There are all those tacky bars in Magalluf, aren't there, of which of course there are no examples anywhere else in Mallorca.
Fair do's, Magalluf is extreme in that its excesses are worse than other resorts. This much is undeniable, but its extremism and its excesses are partly the consequence of a laxity that exists all over Mallorca, one that has, for years, permitted or turned a blind eye to poor behaviour, drunkenness, prostitution and illegal street-selling. Magalluf is the repugnant tip of a not always pleasant iceberg. A key reason for it having become this tip is that there will always be specific locations in which there is a concentration of the less than pleasant. It just so happens that Magalluf is Mallorca's.
The season barely underway, and there are already reports concerning the resort's prostitutes. One has been arrested for attacking attacking two British tourists, striking one on the back with a beer bottle, and stealing their mobiles. Everyone knows that these prostitutes are not on the game but are mobile mobile-robbers and robbers of anything else they can lay their hands on. Calvià town hall has made much of its intention to get to grips with the problem this summer, and maybe it will. But it is a problem that has arisen through a build-up over several years of what was initially just roguish petty criminality (that of the looky-looky men with their fake gear) into something rather more serious.
Magalluf bears the brunt of this more serious crime because of what it is. Clean it up, though, and will the problem go away or will it just go elsewhere? Things have a habit of doing so. Take scratch card, time-share touts. They were driven out and so turned up in Puerto Alcúdia, and it took a few years for them to be moved on; the particularly aggressive ones, that is.
The police, far from being idle or far from deserving criticism for being inactive, have a devil's own job. As do town halls. Street criminals can be picked up, they can be slung in a cell, but then what? They rarely have means to pay fines. They often have no fixed abodes. What do the police do with them? They could denounce them, haul them up in front of a judge, ask for a prison term, but they would end up costing money. They could request their deportation, but how long would that procedure take? How much would it cost? No, the police deserve an awful lot of sympathy.
Where there can be criticism for inaction dates back many years. It was a failure way back when to come to terms with the relatively minor street-selling infractions of the lookies which has now spiralled up to what can occur in Magalluf. This failure was not only one of officialdom, it was one also of tourists, who played along with the looky game, and of residents, among whom were and are Mallorcans, who would happily buy fake goods and still do buy them.
Magalluf is, therefore, a localised culmination of historical blind-eyeing. And because it's Magalluf and because also of the BBC ballyhoo, the Spanish media are even more on the case. Another report just into the season speaks of the "hooligans" having returned. It also speaks of counting 25 street-sellers (lookies, in other words) and 15 Asian massage girls. Shocking? Of course not. You can go to somewhere genteel like Puerto Pollensa and you would be able to count similar numbers were you to hang around long enough. And the reason why is because nothing was done years ago.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, August 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - The illegal beach selling problem in northern Mallorca
Following recent actions by police forces in the north of Mallorca against illegal selling on the beaches, here is a review of what mayors in the area are saying.
Comment: This issue is probably being heightened because there is now a unified police unit in the north, so its co-ordination in itself leads to greater numbers of "arrests", but as the article points out, there is very little the police can really do. When people complain that the police should do this or do that, they fail to understand that there aren't enough police as it is and that the problem of illegal selling has been the same for years in that detentions can be made but those detained don't have money with which to pay fines, often they don't have documentation or any obvious fixed abode. The police end up having to let them go.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Comment: This issue is probably being heightened because there is now a unified police unit in the north, so its co-ordination in itself leads to greater numbers of "arrests", but as the article points out, there is very little the police can really do. When people complain that the police should do this or do that, they fail to understand that there aren't enough police as it is and that the problem of illegal selling has been the same for years in that detentions can be made but those detained don't have money with which to pay fines, often they don't have documentation or any obvious fixed abode. The police end up having to let them go.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Britons detained in Magaluf PR drugs case
Being a "tiquetero" or PR in Magaluf comes with some danger it would seem. Six Britons have been detained, accused of threatening PRs and forcing them to sell drugs (ecstasy and cocaine) to bar customers.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Blending In: Petty crime in Mallorca
Police in Capdepera, for which read primarily Cala Rajada, last week issued advice about security on beaches. This followed an increase in the number of reports of theft that the police had been receiving.
The advice was, or should be, pretty obvious. Only take limited amounts of money with you. Leave credit cards, cameras and other equipment back in the hotel. Assuming, that is, that there isn't a problem with theft at the hotel. One other piece of advice was to not turn your back on your belongings while in the sea, which would be interesting to witness were everyone to follow the advice. If you can't do a backstroke, then you can forget having a swim.
The beach is a place where it is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. No one expects to have their stuff nicked, and time was when there really wasn't that much to nick. Nowadays, there is. The entire contents of a Dixon's, for example. The ad for Amazon's Kindle, the one with the young woman looking delighted while reading whatever she was reading, the screen perfectly legible in the bright sun of the beach, didn't make any mention of the fact that the Kindle would be the target of a beach thief once the back was turned and a gentle breaststroke was being performed.
Why take all the electronics to the beach anyway? The answer is simple. Because you have it; be it a phone, a camera, an iPad, whatever it might be. I confess that I take a phone with me, but it's a rubbish phone; I wouldn't dream of taking a smartphone.
Is crime, and particularly petty crime, on the increase? It would seem that it is. British Consul Paul Abrey was on BBC's Radio One saying that it was (in Ibiza at any rate). Economic hard times mean increased crime. Logical. Pickpocketing appears to be rampant, given the tales of woe from those who have had their wallets lifted.
Detecting the villains, though, isn't easy. And even when you think you have detected one, you really can't be sure. I'll give an example. A few years ago, there was an incident at an Eroski. An aged British tourist had been pickpocketed. He pointed at a character heading away from the shop. I went in pursuit, together with another tourist, a burly Brit who looked as though he might be handy. The alleged villain obviously thought the same when we caught up with him. I felt sorry for him as he clearly believed he was about to be on the end of a good slapping. He wasn't, and of course he had nothing on him. So had he been the pickpocket? Had he passed on his booty? Maybe and maybe. Or maybe not.
The Capdepera police also made the point that the "delinquents" (I'm translating literally) dress like other beach users. They blend in. They don't stand around with masks over their eyes and walk away from the scene of the crime with a large bag bearing the word "SWAG" in large lettering. Which is decidedly inconsiderate of them.
Blending in is how it is. The flower sellers never used to exactly blend in of course, and they still managed to have it away with your wallet, and God knows where they disappeared to. Into thin air. I once went in pursuit of one of them as well, when a German tourist was robbed outside the same Eroski. No sign. Absolutely none whatsoever. They were a bit of a giveaway, though. Other blenders-in are the timeshare (sorry, holiday club) touts. They're back. In Alcúdia at any rate, but seem far less aggressive than was once the case. I had a chat with one of them. Only interested in the Scandinavians; they're the ones with money. But business isn't brisk apparently; Tenerife is much better.
At least with the touts they don't rob you there and then. Indeed, they don't rob you at all. They're just after the commissions; you can't really blame them for wanting to make some money. It's the other blenders-in who are the problem. The ones who bump into you, come up to you in an overly matey fashion, ask you for the time. So, the police advice for the beach goes for the streets as well.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The advice was, or should be, pretty obvious. Only take limited amounts of money with you. Leave credit cards, cameras and other equipment back in the hotel. Assuming, that is, that there isn't a problem with theft at the hotel. One other piece of advice was to not turn your back on your belongings while in the sea, which would be interesting to witness were everyone to follow the advice. If you can't do a backstroke, then you can forget having a swim.
The beach is a place where it is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. No one expects to have their stuff nicked, and time was when there really wasn't that much to nick. Nowadays, there is. The entire contents of a Dixon's, for example. The ad for Amazon's Kindle, the one with the young woman looking delighted while reading whatever she was reading, the screen perfectly legible in the bright sun of the beach, didn't make any mention of the fact that the Kindle would be the target of a beach thief once the back was turned and a gentle breaststroke was being performed.
Why take all the electronics to the beach anyway? The answer is simple. Because you have it; be it a phone, a camera, an iPad, whatever it might be. I confess that I take a phone with me, but it's a rubbish phone; I wouldn't dream of taking a smartphone.
Is crime, and particularly petty crime, on the increase? It would seem that it is. British Consul Paul Abrey was on BBC's Radio One saying that it was (in Ibiza at any rate). Economic hard times mean increased crime. Logical. Pickpocketing appears to be rampant, given the tales of woe from those who have had their wallets lifted.
Detecting the villains, though, isn't easy. And even when you think you have detected one, you really can't be sure. I'll give an example. A few years ago, there was an incident at an Eroski. An aged British tourist had been pickpocketed. He pointed at a character heading away from the shop. I went in pursuit, together with another tourist, a burly Brit who looked as though he might be handy. The alleged villain obviously thought the same when we caught up with him. I felt sorry for him as he clearly believed he was about to be on the end of a good slapping. He wasn't, and of course he had nothing on him. So had he been the pickpocket? Had he passed on his booty? Maybe and maybe. Or maybe not.
The Capdepera police also made the point that the "delinquents" (I'm translating literally) dress like other beach users. They blend in. They don't stand around with masks over their eyes and walk away from the scene of the crime with a large bag bearing the word "SWAG" in large lettering. Which is decidedly inconsiderate of them.
Blending in is how it is. The flower sellers never used to exactly blend in of course, and they still managed to have it away with your wallet, and God knows where they disappeared to. Into thin air. I once went in pursuit of one of them as well, when a German tourist was robbed outside the same Eroski. No sign. Absolutely none whatsoever. They were a bit of a giveaway, though. Other blenders-in are the timeshare (sorry, holiday club) touts. They're back. In Alcúdia at any rate, but seem far less aggressive than was once the case. I had a chat with one of them. Only interested in the Scandinavians; they're the ones with money. But business isn't brisk apparently; Tenerife is much better.
At least with the touts they don't rob you there and then. Indeed, they don't rob you at all. They're just after the commissions; you can't really blame them for wanting to make some money. It's the other blenders-in who are the problem. The ones who bump into you, come up to you in an overly matey fashion, ask you for the time. So, the police advice for the beach goes for the streets as well.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Extra police presence for Alcúdia end-of-school-year botellón
At the end of the school year (which is tomorrow), it has become traditional for there to be one great big party in Puerto Alcúdia, attended by school pupils from Alcúdia and nearby towns. This "macrobotellón" has caused problems in the past, though last year it went off without any real incidents. Nevertheless, provision has been made to boost the number of police with special police tutors from different towns being drafted in.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Friday, May 18, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Police press for Alcúdia hotel security
Alcúdia's local police force has met with hoteliers to impress upon the need to apply control measures in their establishments in order to prevent crime and possible incidents.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Policeman involved in cyclist death accident freed on bail
One of the two members of the National Police who was placed in custody following the death of a German woman cyclist in March has been freed on bail of 5,000 euros. The police officer is accused, among other things, of accidental homicide.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Sa Pobla tackles rising crime
The local police in Sa Pobla will work more closely with the Guardia Civil in an effort to stamp out an increase in crime in the town, one of the measures announced being that the local police will be able to share computer-based information held by the Guardia.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
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