Seville Police Under Fire for Not Responding to Emergency Calls

Seville Police Under Fire for Not Responding to Emergency Calls

Traffic patrols in Sevilla to increase. Image Source: EWN Media Group

POLICIA LOCAL in Seville has come under fire from Spain’s top police union for its failure to respond to many emergency calls.

Spain’s main union for municipal police forces, SPPME, has slammed Seville’s Policia Local for its failure to respond to a huge amount of emergency calls and crime reports. The union says that the issue is a police problem, and that dispatch call workers are not to blame for many reports going unanswered.

In recent weeks a high number of Sevillians have called the Policia Local to report public drinking, open bars, and other activities that undermine the city’s anti-Covid measures. The majority of these reports have not been responded to, with Seville’s local police chief Jose Medina Arteaga singled out for criticism by SPPME for not reinforcing unit numbers during busy weekends.

The union has also warned that Seville’s police communication infrastructure is severely outdated, having not been upgraded in two decades. SPPME said “logically, it fails more than it works”, and the system reportedly still runs the antiquated Windows XP programme.

The Andalucian capital has long suffered from low police numbers, with long-term criticism alleging that Policia Local units are disproportionately assigned to prominent city centre locations rather than residential neighbourhoods with high crime rates.


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Written by

Oisin Sweeney

Oisin is an Irish writer based in Seville, the sunny capital of Andalucia. After starting his working life as a bookseller, he moved into journalism and cut his teeth as a reporter at one of Ireland's biggest news websites. Since joining Euro Weekly News in November, he has enjoyed covering the latest stories from Seville, Spain and further afield - with special interests in crime, cybersecurity, and European politics. Anyone who can pronounce his name first try gets a free cerveza...

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