For some time now, the executive vice president of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), Antonio Balmón, has wanted to give a boost to the services of this administration by focusing on citizen security. His objective, in no case, is to create another police force. Rather, it is about digitizing resources, making it easier for citizens to alert professionals in complex situations, and getting police in different localities to share more and better information. Changes are also planned in public space to make it safer. This Tuesday, the Consell Metropolità, which is the governance body of the AMB, approved to take the first step in this matter with the creation of a study commission to begin implementing the future metropolitan security model. The new body will be chaired by Balmón himself.
The system is part of the plan for the 2023-2027 mandate of a government led by the PSC with the participation of the commons, ERC and Junts. All parties voted in favor this Tuesday except Vox, which voted against.
As explained by the AMB through a statement, the aim is to “follow the model” of the M7 Citizen Security system, an application born in Cornellà de Llobregat, a municipality where Balmón is mayor, and which has spread to reach 16 towns, mainly of the metropolitan area, in different versions. Created by the Cornellà company Einsmer, it currently has about 150,000 users.
With it, citizens have the possibility of sending alarms in real time to local police, but also of generating preventive alerts when they foresee that they may find themselves in vulnerable situations, with a layer created especially against sexist violence. Among other features, it has a geolocation system that is especially useful for older people or people with Alzheimer’s.
As this entire service is digitized through new technologies, City Councils obtain valuable information that they can later use in their security plans. If it is shared between locations, its efficiency increases. Furthermore, some of those responsible for the municipalities that currently use it highlight its ability to involve citizens in prevention.
On the contrary, the system must teach about its true usefulness. And some officials point out that not all citizens use it correctly, warning of emergencies that really are not so urgent. A fact that can create confusion for police officers.
The AMB’s security plans go beyond the M7 system, addressing the issue in different areas within its powers. They want to promote “night security plans throughout the metropolitan territory.” They will have, said the metropolitan administration, “deployment of cameras, reinforcement of public lighting, elimination of unsafe corners, stops on demand for night buses and creation of plans for safe urban spaces.” These are policies that some municipalities are already promoting, but that will also come to have a metropolitan vision.
On the other hand, “specific prevention plans for coastal areas and other metropolitan natural spaces” will also be developed. Thus, the specific circumstances of places such as the Collserola mountain range and the beaches will be taken into account.
All in all, the AMB wants to “intervene proactively in the fight against inequalities, the prevention and eradication of violence in public spaces and the guarantee of peaceful coexistence within the framework of the powers of the metropolitan administration.”
