Double duty for Mallorca police officers

THE Palma City Council will more than double the number of officers for the summer season.

A total of 136 Local Police officers will be patrolling areas in the municipality including the city centre, Cala Major, the Paseo Maritimo and Playa de Palma from May 23 to October 23. An extra 94 police officers coming from other units or as interim workers who have had their contracts renewed will join the 42 current officers.

Palma Mayor Jose Hila explained that it is a “huge increase” compared to last year which was less than half the number for this season.

He added that the day shifts have increased by 50 per cent and the night shifts by 100 per cent in an effort to “solve problems” that weren’t able to be resolved last year.

Councillor for Citizen Security Angelica Pastor said that the increased police presence initiative is “ambitious” and features two novelties. One is that the Maravillas station will now be open 24-hours a day.

The other is that two officers will be assigned to observe and collect information to analyse how the system is working to be able to make improvements as well as develop informative campaigns on issues like alcohol consumption in the streets.