The deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, presided together with the mayor of Ames, Blas Garcías, the presentation of the Mobile Offices of Attention to the Pilgrim of the Civil Guard that will be deployed along the different itineraries of the Camino de Santiago until November 1.
The subdelegate reported that the OMAPs will be active during the months of greatest influx of pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, from June 28 to November 1.
In addition to the troops of the different Civil Guard commanders along the Camino, this year agents of the foreign police of the Italian Carabinieri, French GNF, Portuguese GNR and the Federal Rodoviary Police of Brazil joined.
OMAP serves on a two-color, labeled van with the OMAP logo in English and Spanish. It is equipped with the necessary means to receive complaints “in situ”.
Among the functions assigned to these teams are to increase citizen security in those spaces and places with the highest concentration of pilgrims, to provide information and assistance in the processing of complaints; police response in situations of risk or conflict; the activation of their own resources and other emergency or assistance services (help, information, health, rescue, etc. ).
In addition, the OMAPs provide information on the Camino de Santiago, as well as public services that may be of interest to walking people, providing safety tips to improve their experience on the Camino de Santiago.
The subdelegate wanted to highlight the work carried out by the Civil Guard along more than 600 kilometers of the different routes of the Camino de Santiago in the province of A Coruña. In this regard, he indicated that in the year 2023, in relation to the xacobeo, slightly more than 6,300 services were carried out, with 1,900 actions, 963 checks and identifications and 193 aids and rescues.
“In this sense, I would like to highlight that the year 2023 was a record year of walkers, 446,000 people had the objective of reaching Santiago de Compostela, and more and more women are making this pilgrimage for various reasons, year after year their presence is going to increase. They already represent 53% of the people who make the way (more than 230,000 women in the last year), women who in many cases walk alone and without company, for this reason I also want to add value that these units are also part of the #NoCaminasSola campaign “Free Path of Male Violence”, said María Rivas.