Torrevieja City Council intends to allocate €543,445 (VAT included) over the next four and a half years, until 2029, to ensure the surveillance and control of access and exit to municipally owned facilities, as well as festive and cultural events hosted by the municipality.
The annual cost will be €135,000 (VAT included), with a distribution of somewhat more than 6,000 hours of service each year by about 10 security guards and police officers. The current contract for the same purpose, but with fewer resources, expires this weekend. The City Council will be required to pay for these services, reporting to the Comptroller’s Office beginning on Sunday July 13th, because the contract currently being negotiated will not be granted this week.
Justification
The major and almost sole argument for outsourcing the function is that the current Local Police force, which is in charge of providing these services, is insufficient to meet the demand.
The demand for this contract comes at a time when the Local Police Force has restored some sense of normalcy in terms of available manpower after years of working at a minimum.
By July, up to 180 local police officers could be working, including roughly 40 officers who secured their positions through the Spanish government’s stabilisation process aimed at reducing temporary and interim public employees after they complete the IVASPE training course. They will thereafter be allowed to execute full security tasks while armed with guns. In addition, twenty traffic officer positions will be filled just for traffic management and fines.
More money
After more than ten years of efforts, the addition of 180 police officers brings the total closer to a number that matches the local population of nearly 108,000 registered residents. This has been increased by the confluence of job opportunities in recent months, as well as the relaxation of overtime—and prompt payment—allowing young police officers who have applied for posts in the city to remain on the job. Previously, many left because the economic situation were considerably better in smaller towns.
Flea Market, Social Welfare, Census and Statistics
The outsourcing of security guards and assistants is primarily focused on the Friday market at Antonio Soria Park, Torrevieja City Hall, and the areas of Social Welfare and Census and Statistics.
Despite promises of streamlining through e-government, which has resolved some procedures, the latter continues to suffer from a major issue of customer service delays, resulting in long lineups and disagreements between citizens and officials.
The surveillance and security of the municipal football pitch consume an additional five hundred hours annually.
The municipal technicians who created the specifications state that the Local Police are now “understaffed” and “do not have sufficient personnel to handle this type of surveillance, in addition to all of the services they are required by law to provide in the municipality.”
The argument states that while local corporations must provide surveillance of municipal buildings and facilities through the municipal police, “it is no less true that the increase in these facilities and the lack of personnel in the local police force” or the diversion of personnel to other tasks of greater difficulty and “unassuming by private security, make the use of private security necessary.”
More installations mean more demand
Furthermore, the proposal indicates that the demand for surveillance in municipal buildings and installations is expanding and impossible to sustain with a minimal degree of security by the Local Police, “therefore, it is necessary to process a public tender for the contracting of the service.”
Functions
Outsourcing a basic service, such as security, ensures that there are enough workers available to fulfil surveillance and security responsibilities related to restricting access to municipal buildings, facilities, and installations for both people and vehicles. It also entails inspecting and reviewing shipments, bundles, suitcases, visitor documentation, and key identification.
Security guards and private security assistants must coordinate with municipal officials in the event of an incident or alert, as well as communicate with law enforcement agencies as needed.
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