Guardiola solicita a Grande-Marlaska mantener sede de Policía en Badajoz

President of the Extremadura Council, María Guardiola, asked the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who is «personally involved» in ensuring the continuity of the National Police units in Plaza Alta de Badajoz.

In a letter sent to the Minister of the Interior, to which the president of Extremadura had access, the president of the board of directors stated that «no one understands or shares» the decision, known a few days ago, to close these National Police units in Badajoz.

According to the president, the «objective data» of the last two decades show that the establishment of these National Police units along with the other Plaza Badajoz «has contributed, all this time and in a very remarkable way, to the reduction of drug trafficking, prostitution, and criminal activity in the area.»

Therefore, Guardiola recalls that the possibility of closing this headquarters was considered in the past up to two times, finally «was discarded after conducting an evaluation of the negative consequences that, in matters of citizen security, could carry in such a sensitive area,» as the ancient city of the capital of the Patina.

The President’s President points out that institutions, social groups, and citizens of the city have made a «very important effort for the revitalization and recovery of the old city of Badajoz in the last decades,» in which one of the «most ambitious initiatives» has been the recent institution of the Integral Consortium for the Monumental, Heritage, Social, and Urban Recovery of the Old Town of Badajoz, with the participation of the City Council of Badajoz, Diputación de Badajoz, and Junta de Extremadura.

«The decision to close these units and, therefore, suppress the presence of members of the National Police Force in them, is a decision that no one understands or shares,» said María Guardiola, who added that its closure has the «express opposition» of citizens, associations of former merchants, and neighboring city.

For all these reasons, the president of the Board of Directors concludes his letter, calling on Grande-Marlaska to «study this matter carefully, because he is personally involved in its resolution in the opposite direction» compared to what the government delegate, José Luis Quintana, expressed last week, police blankets and in this way, the safety of citizens on the streets and blankets in the old cities.

FUENTE