Eight Mallorca police join Maó festival safety drive
Eight local police officers from Mallorca join the Mare de Déu de Gràcia celebrations in Maó, Menorca, on Monday and Tuesday, 7 and 8 September. They will bolster the town’s security operation during the festival’s main days, with horses, alcohol and crowd safety among the concerns.
It is the first time Maó Town Hall has brought in local police from outside the municipality for its festival deployment. The Balearic Government’s Department of Presidency, Government Action Coordination and Local Cooperation says the move is being led by the Directorate General for Emergencies and Interior and the Balearic Islands Public Security Institute.
Extra officers, emergency support and radios
The eight Mallorca officers will be joined by staff from the Balearic Islands Public Security Institute, including its director Joan Antoni Miralles and Rafel Covas, coordinator of the government’s Safe Festivals programme.
Menorca’s Operational Emergency Unit will again coordinate incidents reported to the 112 emergency centre. IB Digital is supplying ten TetraIB radio terminals for internal communications. Maó is one of 27 municipalities in the programme in its first year.
Advice around alcohol and horses
Some of the officers travelling from Mallorca are police tutors. Their work includes dealing with arguments, fights, alcohol poisoning and drug use, as well as visiting shops and public venues to explain the rules on selling alcohol to under-18s.
The programme also holds pre-festival workshops and talks for secondary and baccalaureate pupils. These cover issues specific to Maó and Menorca’s celebrations, including the presence of horses.
The government urges people not to touch reins or other parts of a horse while it is running. It also advises against flip-flops, which can make it harder to move out of a horse’s path, and against taking pushchairs into heavily crowded areas. Bottles and cans should not be thrown on the ground because they can put horses at risk.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com