The deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, participated today in the opening and closing of the Conference “Challenges in security” organized by the Association of Companies and Security Experts in Galicia (AESGA) in the Nordés Business Club of A Coruña. The event was presided over by the sub-delegate of the Government with the participation of the President of AESGA, Roberto Lage, and the territorial delegate of the Xunta de Galicia in A Coruña, Gonzalo Trenor.
In her speech, the subdelegate pointed out the important role that private security plays in the daily protection of citizens: “We see it in official buildings, in events, in commercial and financial activity and also in our free time. We cannot dissociate our daily lives from the protection afforded to us by private security companies” so it is “subject to the same pressures and conditions as public security”.
María Rivas stressed that the security that Galicia now enjoys is the result of good understanding and collaboration between private security and public operators, that is, the Local Police, the National Police, the Civil Guard, and the Autonomous Police.
The subdelegate recalled that one of the forms of crime that is behind most of the prison infractions both in Spain and Galicia is the cybercrime, a new criminal technique that takes advantage of the facilities offered by the new technologies to commit all kinds of infractions, such as computer attacks, harassment or fraud, among others.
María Rivas pointed out that only last year more than 20,000 cybercrimes were committed in Galicia, a figure that amounts to 70,000 if we count the last three years. In addition, according to the National Institute of Cybersecurity, last year in Galicia 217,000 internet connection devices were detected at risk of being attacked by cybercriminals.
In this regard, the subdelegate stressed that the evolution of new technologies also provides opportunities and “powerful tools to improve our public security”, such as Artificial Intelligence.
Thus, María Rivas pointed out that the Ministry of the Interior already makes use of this type of tools to improve the strategic management and effectiveness of the security forces, what is known as ‘Smart Policing’ which is the “combination of data and tools to manage security, applied to issues such as gender violence, trafficking, technological threats, hate crimes or the protection of public administrations”.
He also wanted to value the effort made by the Government, both at European and national level, which is defining a regulatory framework that aims to “ensure that the development of Artificial Intelligence contributes to the common good and strengthens democratic values.”
Mentions AESGA
At the event, four AESGA mentions were given to recognize the trajectory and competencies of the professionals who contributed to the development and strengthening of the private security sector in Galicia and who are part of the three citizen security administrations in the community: the National Police, the Civil Guard and the Galician Emergency Agency.
In this sense, María Rivas took the opportunity to insist that only with the unity and collaboration of all agents, entities and companies of public and private security “we can guarantee the exercise of our rights and freedoms, provide security to the Galicians and the Galicians and promote the prosperity of our land.”
The deputy delegate of the Government was responsible for recognizing the Colonel and former head of the Command of the Civil Guard of A Coruña, Francisco Javier Jambrina; and that it is completed with the recognitions made to the Inspector of the National Police, Manuel Pedro Fernández; the manager of the Galician Emergency Agency, Marcos Araújo; and the director of citizen security of the City of A Coruña, Carlos García Touriñan.