§ The delegate of the Government of Spain in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín, regrets that the specific device of 30 and 31 days could not be designed due to the lack of communication by the City Council of the events that it has planned

§ One of the objectives will be the prevention of criminal acts within the reinforcement of safe Trade and Tourism plans

§ Security devices will be established in places with a large influx of people, with a greater police presence than usual, and in some of the planned events

A total of 1,200 agents of the National Police will contribute on average daily to guarantee security during the Christmas holidays throughout the Community of Madrid to ensure that all the events and celebrations planned in the coming dates run in the best security conditions. To them will be added a reinforcement of 600 agents for the most outstanding days.

The delegate of the Government of Spain in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín, has presided over the meeting of the ‘Christmas Plan 2024’, in which some of the actions of this campaign that began at the end of November and will last until January 11 have been coordinated.

Officials from the National Police, Municipal Police of Madrid, SAMUR-Civil Protection, Firefighters, Regional Transport Consortium, Metro, EMT, Adif and Renfe have attended.

Francisco Martín has highlighted the difficulty of organizing the devices for these events without prior communication of celebration of certain events. In particular, he has referred to concerts that seem to have been planned for the nights of December 30 and 31 at the Puerta del Sol, of which no official communication has been received from the City Council of the capital in the Government Delegation.

He also wanted to remember that, as a result of what happened last year with the concert of David Bisbal, which was not communicated, both the Community of Madrid and the City Council of the capital were sent a communication with express indications regarding the information and the deadlines that should be transferred that, apparently, has not been taken into account for this possible concert.

Proof of this, the delegate said, was the event held on the occasion of the lighting of lights, also communicated in time and form, causing complications for some of the emergency services that were deployed. For this reason, the government delegate has stated that, for next year, his desire is to convene a meeting to coordinate a specific security device for the Christmas ignition.

However, in view of the grapes and grapes of this year, the government delegate has pointed out as a “very serious and irresponsible” fact that he did not provide the necessary information. “It is unacceptable to arrive at a scheduled meeting and not to know what they want to do,” he said. “This has made it impossible, at the moment, to design the corresponding security plan, something unpublished in the years I have been a delegate”, which is why Martín has brought forward the call for a new meeting to deal with this issue to which both the Community of Madrid and the City Council will be placed.

Special devices

The special devices that have been able to materialize have been those of the San Silvestre and the Cabalgata de Reyes, which will have security devices with 400 and 800 members, respectively.

Agents of the Provincial Citizen Security Brigade and the District and Local Police Stations will be involved. Special units such as Cavalry, Subsoil, Canine Guides, Police Intervention Unit (UIP), Air Media (Condor helicopter and drones); Devices Section; Prevention and Reaction Units (UPR), Mobile Brigade Section, Citizen Care Groups, Private Security Section and Citizen Participation will also participate.

Security devices will be established in places with a large influx of people, with a greater police presence than usual, and a special device against the theft and theft of portfolios in the central area. There will also be an increase in the police presence in Metro, Renfe Largo Ruta, Cerca Ías and EMT by the Mobile Brigade.

The anti-terrorist alert is maintained at level 4, which will mean a large deployment of uniformed and civilian police to increase surveillance in places with a large influx of public.

Trade and Tourism Insurance

The Christmas Plan is one of the great plans implemented by the Ministry of the Interior, which intensifies in the commercial areas during the opening hours by the number of visitors and tourists who come to the city.

Along with this, the Safe Trade Plan consists of the prevention of criminal acts, of which both merchants and customers can be victims, providing a safe environment for the trade. Among the specific objectives: the prevention of robberies with violence or intimidation and robberies with force or theft in establishments, especially “lunges” and “butrones”.

The Citizen Participation Unit of the Superior Police Headquarters of Madrid, together with the Units of the District Police Stations, works to raise awareness among citizens and merchants in order to prevent them from being victims of scams in the purchases made. In addition, the National Police increases the number of meetings in the shops themselves, large stores, private security companies and neighborhood associations, and the recommendations are publicized in the media and on social networks.

Special attention is also paid to burglaries in homes that remain empty during the holidays, for which meetings are being held with various associations of neighbors.

In addition, during these dates the Safe Tourism Plan is reinforced, which remains active throughout the year.