Félix Azón: “The Civil Guard has a specific plan for safety in public health care centers to deal with the aggressions and threats suffered by health professionals”
The Director General has given a lecture under the title “The Civil Guard: An Institute at the service of citizens”
In the first half of 2019, the Civil Guard have given 50 training activities in Spain to a total of almost 1,200 health professionals and more than 3,000 preventive actions were carried out in health centers
The Director General of the Civil Guard, Félix Azón has given today a conference on "The Civil Guard: An Institute at the service of citizenship" at the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Seville.
In this context, he has highlighted the relevant and transcendental role that the Civil Guard has represented for 175 years until today in the Public Security System.
The Director General has indicated that to guarantee the security in demarcation of the Civil Guard has a deployment formed by almost 80,000 agents, distributed in more than 2,250 units, of which 1,963 are points of attention to the citizen, our Posts.
He also said that the permanent presence in the 50 provinces, Ceuta and Melilla, where citizen security tasks are carried out in 83% of the 8,125 Spanish municipalities, makes it possible to state that the Civil Guard vertebrates the presence of the State in the entire Spanish territory, assuming a commitment to public safety that has always come from the most unpopulated areas, to urban and peri-urban areas.
“The territorial deployment of the Civil Guard will continue to guarantee an effective presence that meets the security needs of citizens, so that it receives a quality public service, without deficiencies or disadvantages, because we want to contribute to the call Spain emptied have a future of prosperity and hope ”, explained Félix Azón.
In addition, it has clarified that another fundamental characteristic is the versatility of the units, capable of providing safety on the roads, making risky rescue in seas and mountains, protecting nature and the environment, providing service in the subsoil, furrowing skies, monitoring the cyberspace, or be a reference in the investigation and clarification of crimes, as well as in the fight against terrorism.
The Civil Guard has been equipped, since 2005, with a Strategic Management System that is organized around a series of key documents, among which is the Strategic Plan. This is the strategic planning document in the medium / long term par excellence that, with a temporary validity of four years, establishes the objectives to be achieved and the actions necessary to achieve them. The Director General has referred to the fact that currently the Civil Guard focuses its attention, during the years 2017 to 2020, and through the strategic plan, in ten thematic lines of action, eminently operational, and one more of a transversal nature.
The first strategic line of action is the fight against terrorism and the control of weapons and explosives. Similarly, as regards the fight against Organized Crime, the Civil Guard effort is also based on international cooperation, preventive action, mainly through proactive surveillance of coasts, borders, ports and airports; and specialized research.
Regarding Cybersecurity, it is one of the fundamental aspects in which the police effort is being worked on and developing with the recent creation of the Cybersecurity Coordination Unit aimed at promoting an integrative vision of the potential of the Corps in the field of cyberspace, optimizing The potential available.
With regard to the management of migration flows and security, the Civil Guard has the Coastal and Border Maritime Surveillance Coordination Center (CECORVIGMAR) and early detection and immediate reaction by land, sea and air are carried out , with the technological support of the Integrated External Surveillance System (SIVE).
Likewise, the Director General has referred to the creation, last year, of the Coordinating Authority to deal with irregular immigration in the Strait of Gibraltar, Alboran Sea and adjacent waters.
The Director General has highlighted the importance of the most vulnerable groups where initiatives, protocols, plans and instructions are being promoted, which from the Ministry of Interior and the Secretary of State have been put in place for their protection.
The protection of victims of gender-based violence shows the volume of activity of the Civil Guard in this regard: last year, almost 304,000 activities were carried out to protect victims of gender-based violence in relation to active protection orders. The prevention of drug consumption and retail traffic in educational centers, where last year 41 thousand surveillance services were carried out in said schools and the improvement of the safety of the elderly, through training actions specially focused on the criminal modalities that more can affect them and that supposed in 2018 more than 2,400 assistance interventions with older people.
Safety in hospitals and health professionals
In this sense, Félix Azón has highlighted the improvement of Security in hospitals and health professionals in order to improve the protection and safety of health personnel during the development of their profession, for which the Civil Guard has been for years with a specific plan for safety in public health care centers to deal mainly with the aggressions and threats suffered by health professionals.
In application of this plan, the Civil Guard has designed an internal hierarchical structure at the provincial and regional level of Health Police Interlocutors that have tasks entrusted related to the integral protection of health professionals and that include, among others, the following aspects:
– The updating of the catalog of georeferenced medical centers classified by risk based on a series of parameters.
– The establishment of contacts with the institutions, organizations and associations that represent the group of health professionals, as well as with the bodies or representatives designated by the different competent Administrations (Prosecutor's Office, Judiciary, Health, Social Services, etc.), contributing , in this way, to improve the subjective feeling of security in personnel belonging to the health sector.
– The realization of training and counseling days mainly through medical associations, in the field of prevention of aggressions.
– The development of concrete initiatives aimed at minimizing the risk in those most vulnerable medical centers (panic button, silent warning systems, etc.).
Fruit of all this, by the Civil Guard, and only in the first half of this year 2019 have 50 training activities in Spain been given to a total of almost 1,200 health professionals; more than 3,000 preventive actions were carried out in health centers; Almost 1,300 meetings of these territorial health police partners with organizations and health centers were held and more than 1,000 operational actions requested by health professionals were carried out, both in health centers and for home care.
On the other hand, the Director General has referred to the Protection of the Environment, where the Civil Guard, mainly through SEPRONA, have become a national and international reference, is a pioneer in the national defense of the environment. Regarding Citizen Security, the Civil Guard focuses its actions on preventive work and the individualized treatment of specific problems. In this area, the prize that the UN has awarded to Seprona for its operations against the illegal trade of fluorinated greenhouse gases has been highlighted.
Likewise, he stressed that the Civil Guard maintains its firm commitment to continue contributing decisively to a reduction in the number of traffic accidents, as well as to continue the work of relief to road users, through its Grouping of Traffic, under the functional dependence of the General Directorate of Traffic. It is of course also of special application in this section of road safety, my previous statement about the commendable work performed by medical and health professionals in helping, assisting and treating the injured.
Finally, he has made a brief review regarding the External Projection of the Civil Guard. Thus, there are currently more than 300 components deployed in 45 countries, who carry out missions of different types.
