The La Marina tourist office was the venue for the unveiling of a new security initiative in the municipality by mayor José Sampere Ballester.

The project is called ‘Police in your home’, a scheme that aims to monitor uninhabited homes during holiday periods.

The mayor was accompanied by the head of the Local Police, Cristobal Rodríguez Espinosa, Darren Parmenter the Councillor for Foreign Residents and one of the agents who will be in charge of coordinating the project.

Homeowners must first register for this service which will be free to anyone who is away from their home for a period of between 15 days and 3 months.

The objective is to patrol around the houses that are left uninhabited and thus provide a “pioneer facility to the Vega Baja and an important public service which shows that we are concerned about the well-being of our residents”, said Sampere, who added that “thanks to this project people living in San Fulgencio will be able to have rather more peace of mind”.

In this respect, the head of the Local Police, Cristobal Rodríguez, explained that by establishing a database the police will be able to work better. “It is a work tool that is fundamental for us, since it allows us to have a global vision of the municipality’s housing developments and better control those areas that are uninhabited,” said the officer.

People must register in the tourist office of the municipality, and from there a program will gather the data that the Local Police will use to develop the project. Once the residents return to their property they must visit the office and de register from the project so that the list can be updated.

Rodriguez said that “this service that the police are going to carry out does not replace private surveillance, and while homes will be monitored there is no guarantee that nothing could happen.”

Sampere has said that “we have a very diverse municipality, which has one of the largest foreign populations in Spain, and we want to take care of it and make sure that everybody feels secure.” In this respect, the mayor added that “for the town it is a privilege to have more than fifty nationalities, people who live here and who can go away a little more assured when they visit their relatives”.