Perhaps emboldened by the success of their colleagues in Almuñécar, the Salobreña municipal police are demanding that their overtime be paid.
Over nearly two years that the pandemic has spanned so far, the various police forces (Autonómica, Local, Nacional and Guardia Civil) have clocked up considerable overtime owing to the extra, policing duties.
In Salobreña, officers belonging to the Policía Local have not seen overtime reflected in their salaries so the police-officers union, SIPLG is hammering on the Mayor’s door. The overtime includes summer vacations that they were unable to take owing to the workload.
According to the union, a good part of this extra work load is owing to a lack of manpower caused by officers retiring and officers moving to other municipalities where work condition are better. This ‘officer drain’ has been going on over the last 13 years, they claim.
At present the municipal police force has 24 officers; 19 on patrol work, four in administration and one on reduced hours. Four of this number actually belong elsewhere and are detached to Salobreña and will leave during 2022 when their deployment ends.
The Mayor, María Eugenia Rufino, promised at the beginning of 2021 to modify the municipal budget to include any overtime during the year but leaving the payment of the previous outstanding sum owed to 2022. The police union agreed because otherwise the town would have been left without a municipal police force. However, only part of 2021 overtime has been paid.
Consequently, some of the officers have refused to do anymore overtime, especially over Christmas and New Year which has resulted in foot patrols comprising of a single officer rather than in pairs. The consequence is a lack of security for both the officers themselves as well as for the general public.
The Town Hall has made no comment.
Editorial comment: would it be unfair or cheap to point out that local politicians have been receiving their salaries and expenses in full in the meantime?
(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)