The secretary general of the Union of Local Police and Fire Brigade Malaga (UPLBA), Francisco Corpas, has issued a press statement regarding the recent situation in Torrox whereby, during the feria, a local security company had to be hired to guard the police headquarters due to the majority of officers reporting sick.
Francisco Corpas states that only 8 of the 31 officers in Torrox reported sick and the rest were on vacation or a break from duty and the situation was not the result of any form of protest action by the policemen.
According to Francisco Corpas, the problem was caused because the Council failed to hold any sort of dialogue with the police force in the run-up to the feria in order to strengthen the service and ensure adequate policing for the event. He added that there has been a lot of misinformation, lies and bad faith relating to the Local Police in Torrox with little or no dialogue and no foresight being shown.
Although emphasizing that the problem lies with the municipal authorities, the secretary general nonetheless said that the police wanted to apologise to the people of Torrox for any inconvenience caused and he hopes that a similar situation will not occur in the future.
One would have thought, given that the annual feria does not come as a complete surprise each year, that the onus on planning and ensuring adequate security would, at least in the first instance, rest with the immediate management, namely the Chief of Police.