‘Acting’ officers of the Rojales Local Police are going out on patrol along with regular police officers who are licensed to carry weapons – a move that has been slammed by union representatives. Usually, active police patrols and surveillance is restricted to officers who carry a weapon, while trainees carry out administrative tasks or regulate traffic.
However, due to a lack of officers in the municipality of Rojales, acting officers are out on duty unarmed which is not legal. The Professional Union of Local Police and Firefighters (SPPLB), has sent a letter to the socialist Mayor of Rojales, Antonio Pérez, denouncing this serious situation.
The union has evidence that on several occasions trainee officers are patrolling together with fully licensed Local Police officers. As the acting officers do not carry a weapon, the Valencian Community Police Coordination Law does not allow them to carry out citizen security tasks. The SPPLB, say this is therefore a “violation” of the law which “seriously endangers both the security of the career officer and that of the acting agent”. In addition, they lack of experience in matters of citizen security such as robberies, assaults on homes or premises, fights, attacks or gender violence. According to the union, many of the interim officers are assigned to night shifts “where 100 percent of the situations are citizen security”.
The lack of police officers in the municipality is another of the police union’s complaints. In Rojales, a municipality with more than 18,000 inhabitants, there are only 14 career officers who can carry out citizen security tasks and the team is completed with 9 interim agents. There is also one officer on secondment, four on long-term sick leave, one in a secondary activity, an inspector and a chief. In addition, the SPPLB highlights that the town has 8 more career police officers but that they are on commission in other municipalities. The result is that there are only 14 officers available to cover six shifts highlighting a severe lack of experienced officers in the town.