In 2021, when restrictions due to the Covid pandemic were still present, l’Hospitalet de Llobregat devised a special safety plan for the summer. Now, two years later, the initiative is maintained although with fewer complaints, arrests and citizen requests.
Static controls by the police have also been reduced. This is revealed by the data made public this Monday by the Hospitalet City Council on a device that unites the different security forces present in the second city of Catalonia.
During this summer, with the pandemic already a memory, the device has resulted in only four detainees. Last year there were 22 arrests and in 2021 the detentions reached 21. The complaints filed have also been reduced: if in 2021 there were 464 and last year 274, this time they have remained at 140.
Likewise, there has also been a reduction in citizen requests to the Guàrdia Urbana. This summer 243 have been registered, in 2022 there were 715 and in 2021 there were more than a thousand to reach 1,010. Inspections in establishments registered a peak last year with 137. This summer they have remained at 39 and in 2021 there were 50.
In addition, there has also been a decrease in static controls. This time 444 have been carried out while in 2022 1,162 were carried out and in 2021 they reached 1,089. In total, 627 troops have been mobilized for two and a half months, the City Council has indicated. The operation has been carried out in seven spaces in l’Hospitalet that, in the opinion of the City Council, require a reinforced police presence.
For the City Council, there has been a “strong decrease in incidents compared to last year.” The deputy mayor of Security, Mobility and Human Resources, Jesús Husillos, interprets that proximity allows “having a better knowledge of the territory” and giving a “more agile response” to problems.
