Barcelona City Council is finalizing the installation of up to 17 video surveillance cameras at five intersections on Passeig de Grà cia. If the conditions set out in the various municipal tenders that will make the project possible are met, these devices will go into operation at the end of this summer.
We are talking about devices that are usually called intelligent and of very high resolution, even equipped with facial recognition that will allow those responsible for the city’s security to classify the pedestrians of this main axis based on gender, the age, glasses, rucksacks, bags, hats, clothes… The cost of this system will be close to 200,000 euros. The presence of these devices on the promenade, however, will be very discreet. They will barely be seen.
This is actually a very old claim by the merchants of the city’s most prestigious promenade, which was already raised during the pre-pandemic years, when the area and the rest of the city had the worst records in terms of insecurity recent times
At the moment, the situation in Passeig de Grà cia has little to do with the one suffered in 2019, a year generally considered to be terrible in terms of public insecurity. Despite this, the persistence of repeat offenders remains the main concern of traders in the area. This control system is mainly designed to complicate the lives of shoemakers, watchmakers, pickpockets… and in fact all criminals who try to hide their misdeeds among the crowds.
Because the records of the recording devices will also make it possible to discriminate between who is hanging around the area and who is queuing, between who is hiding something and who simply does not know what to do with so many bags on them… And they will also collect license plates and characteristics main features of the different vehicles. In addition, the system foresees the possibility of differentiating the sounds, discerning between an explosion, a shot, a window that cracks…
The new cameras, however, will also present limitations in order not to attack anyone’s privacy and limit this surveillance to what happens in public space. The interior of the buildings will always be completely out of their scope.
A study by the Urban Guard establishes the location of each of these devices. We will find them on both sides of the promenade, specifically two at the crossroads with Provence, another with Mallorca, three with Aragon, seven with Gran Via and the remaining four with the Ronda Sant Pere.
In reality access to luxury stores are not the main objectives. The truth is that these spaces are not the most dangerous. One of these 17 cameras will pay special attention to the surroundings of La Pedrera and another to those of Casa Batlló. The classic crowds in front of the most visited monuments are always frequented by repeat offenders.
LluÃs Sans, president of the trade association Associació Passeig de Grà cia, details that the criminal acts committed on this promenade fell by 49% compared to those registered in 2019.
“2019 was a terrible year, particularly bad – details the representative of the traders -. This is a much higher decline than has been recorded in the whole of Barcelona. This is mainly due to an increase in the police presence throughout the axis, both uniformed and plainclothes agents, and also to better coordination with the security officers of the establishmentsâ€.
Sans also explains that for some time the employees stationed at the gates of most of the promenade always have an eye on the street. And as soon as they recognize a happy multi-recidivist, they communicate it via WhatsApp to the police deployed in the area. And if they can, they also send the police a photograph of the suspect in question. The task of the goalkeepers is eminently preventive. They don’t play cops or anything like that.
“These employees received adequate training – adds the president of the Passeig de Grà cia Association -. What we are talking about is complicating life for highly professionalized criminals who try to take advantage of the holes in our legal system.”
The criminals who at the moment are of most concern to traders are those who specialize in robbing customers in car parks once they go to look for their vehicles after shopping, as well as bag snatchers and watchmakers.
“The problem is that, despite the fact that the Penal Code was already reformed to punish multi-recidivism, the holding of trials is still delayed by ten or eleven months. And when the hearing date finally arrives, the suspect is already far away from Barcelona. That’s why we have so many itinerant criminals, thieves who come to the city to commit their mischief for a few days. We are convinced that the new cameras will help deter them and facilitate investigations. Several police studies conclude that these devices reduce crimes committed in public spaces by at least 30%”.
In the previous mandate, Colau and his colleagues were very reluctant to these control systems. But the assumption by his socialist partners of security responsibilities after the last elections mitigated that rejection. The deployment of cameras in the city is also a consequence of Barcelona’s participation in the European Securcities project, aimed at improving the protection of public spaces against terrorist threats. At the moment, Barcelona’s most everyday needs are different. The turning point in the commission of crimes brought about by the pandemic has already come to an end.
