Overview
- SUP and CEP staged a protest outside Vigo’s Álvaro Cunqueiro station on Thursday, calling for about 100 more National Police officers and urgent repairs to a building they say has leaks, broken climate control and poor access.
- Union spokespeople said dozens of Vigo-based officers from the UPR, a rapid-response public order unit, will be sent to Ibiza, Algeciras, Cádiz and Cartagena this summer, which they argue will leave Vigo and the rest of Pontevedra with weaker coverage during the tourist surge.
- Officers assigned to Ibiza as reinforcements must advance about 20% of their travel, hotel and meal costs under state rules, a burden unions say will bite hard during high season when rooms are scarce and prices rise.
- Staffing gains this year will be modest, with 25 arrivals offset by 15 promotions for a net of 10, according to unions who say a force of fewer than 700 needs roughly 100 more officers to meet demand.
- JUPOL declined to join the protest, citing a Supreme Court ruling it says recognizes policing as a profession of risk, while CEP countered that the decision leaves out many officers who joined before 2011.