The deputy delegate of the Government, María Rivas, wanted to highlight the decisive commitment of the Executive in the achievement of equality and in the fight against male violence. Thus, both María Rivas and Blas García, mayor of Ames, valued the collaboration between the Local Police and the Civil Guard, forming specialized teams to work coordinated in the protection of women victims of gender violence through the VioGén system.
The subdelegate indicated that Ames is one of the 23 municipalities fully adhered to the VioGén system in the province, in which there are 8 more in process. The objectives of VioGén are to bring together the different public institutions that have competence in the field of gender violence, to integrate all the information of interest that is deemed necessary to make a risk prediction, and taking into account the level of risk, to monitor and protect victims throughout the national territory.
What the Government is seeking through VioGén is to establish a dense network that will allow for the rapid, comprehensive and effective monitoring and protection of battered women, and their sons and daughters, in any part of the national territory. “Today more than ever, I want to call on all women victims of gender-based violence in the province to report, not be afraid, and take a step forward so that the system can help and protect them,” Rivas said.
In this regard, the Government subdelegate indicated that the security forces and bodies work daily in a coordinated manner in the 2,402 active cases in the province. “We must continue to work tirelessly to protect each of the women who are within the VioGen system. There are 2,402 lives conditioned by the atavistic and structural violence that is machismo, and they need our daily effort to protect them and their families. All efforts are necessary, those of the Local Police and the Civil Guard, but also those of the whole society. We must not turn our backs on violent and sexist behaviors, we must denounce them,” said the deputy delegate.
The subdelegate insisted that the search for equality and the fight against gender violence are fundamental axes of the Government’s action, which is also expressed in measures such as the State Pact, of which the City of Ames is beneficiary, which received 85,144.26 euros since 2018 to develop equality policies, awareness-raising actions and activities aimed at achieving a more equal society and with zero tolerance against male violence and negationist speeches.
On this subject, the subdelegate encouraged the City of Ames to continue working on prevention and awareness through the interinstitutional coordination table against gender violence that has already been established, and which also exists in 39 other municipalities in the province.
Another issue to be addressed at the meeting of the Local Security Xunta had to do with security and crime rates in the city council. After analyzing the data of citizen security, the subdelegate wanted to value the degree of effectiveness and collaboration of the security bodies and forces. In this regard, he stressed that the crime rate is 29 crimes per 1000 inhabitants, well below the provincial average that is 37 and also the Galician average that is 35.
In addition, according to the data provided, the level of clarification improves with respect to the previous year in both minor crimes and criminal offenses, remaining barely unchanged in the rest; in this regard, he wanted to highlight again the cooperation between institutions noting that "this collaboration is key, and I especially want to thank the mayor, Blas García, for the involvement and constant support. We will continue to work on this line so that Ames continues to be a safe city hall.”