Presentation of the National Campaign for Prevention and Safety on the Camino de Santiago

The Association of Municipalities of the Camino de Santiago (AMCS), the Civil Guard and the Ministry of Culture, from the Jacobean Council, have started today, a National Safety Prevention Campaign aimed at pilgrims who make Camino de Santiago Francés between the 2020 and 2021.

The Campaign has been presented by the Cabinet Director of the Minister of Culture, Carlos Alberdi Alonso; the General of the Chief of the Civil Protection Service of the Civil Guard (SEPRONA), Antonio Tocón Díez; and the President of the Association of Municipalities of the Camino de Santiago and Mayor of Logroño, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza.

The campaign integrates a billboard action in the field of prevention and safety on the Camino de Santiago; technical training sessions between agents of the Civil Guard of the Commanders of five Autonomous Communities and experts of the Camino de Santiago; new features of the App of the Secretary of State for Security "Alertcops" and the interrelation with the application for pilgrims APP 'Way' of the AMCS, and another series of improvements in security plans.

This campaign is aimed at preventing and giving safety advice to people heading to Santiago de Compostela on foot, by bicycle or on horseback.

It has been the Association of Municipalities of the Camino de Santiago and the Civil Guard the entities responsible for projecting and launching this campaign that has received support from the Ministry of Culture, through the Jacobean Council. The Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Camino de Santiago also supports the initiative.

Through the appropriate geographical distribution of the posters, the entities intend to project the idea of ​​force on the importance of safety prevention among pilgrims at appropriate dissemination points – passing points, usual meetings; shelters and lodges; public facilities such as information points, rest areas and headquarters of the GC-; etc. In total more than 1,000 posters along the almost 1,000 km of the itinerary.

The President of the Association of Municipalities of the Camino de Santiago, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, an entity that brings together 99 municipalities of the French Way, has indicated that the Jacobean Route is a “heritage treasure that we have received as a legacy and that we have the responsibility to protect For future generations. And this implies taking care of the pilgrims who travel it, because they are the true soul of this experience ”. Likewise, he stressed that the message of the campaign focuses primarily on the concept of prevention: “it deals with situations that may occur while doing the Camino de Santiago in hostels, walking and other scenarios, in addition to providing other types of advice as, for example, those related to road safety ”.

“The Camino de Santiago is a safe road, but we want to make it easier for foreign pilgrims to know that the Civil Guard is the body that operates in Spain in rural areas, that they represent 70% of the route to Santiago and that they can go to any casuistry , falls, losses or other situations, ”said Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza who, in addition to President of the Association of Municipalities of the Camino de Santiago, is the Mayor of Logroño.

For its part, the General of division and head of the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard (SEPRONA), Antonio Tocón Díez, explained the fruits that until now the signing of the Operational Procedure for Collaboration with the Association of Municipalities of the Camino de Santiago Francés (AMCS) and the Civil Guard last March 25. Among them, it has enriched the annual Security Plan of the Civil Guard on the Camino de Santiago, guiding the planning of the territorial units and predisposing the corresponding Headquarters to carry out a specific contribution from each of their specialized capacities.

The General of Division, Antonio Tocón, has pointed out that since July this year the mobile application of the Secretary of State for Security, ALERTCOPS, has been perfected in its security features on the geographical area of ​​the Camino de Santiago . Pilgrims may, if they wish, activate a novel function: the Benemérito Guardian for the Camino de Santiago Francés

The new potential of ALERTCOPS allows sharing the last 10 positions of the pilgrim – sent and registered automatically by the app – with a specific operational center for coordination and monitoring of the Civil Guard, active in 24-hour / 7-day mode so that it would be easily located before any event. In addition, a reception of a message has been enabled., welcoming the pilgrim to the Jacobean Route by the Civil Guard access to any territorial constituency of the Civil Guard through which the Camino de Santiago runs.

The Cabinet Director of the Minister of Culture and Sports, Carlos Alberdi, highlighted the importance that the Jacobean Council attaches to security and explained that “in order to strengthen our work in this area in the face of Xacobeo 2021, it has been incorporated a representative of the Ministry of Interior in the Working Group for the coordination of the Holy Year. The work carried out by the State Security Forces and Bodies in matters of road safety is essential ”.

In addition, it has indicated that the Jacobean Council has approved, among its activities of the official program for the Xacobeo 2021, the celebration in 2020 of an Encounter with all the security forces that work on the Camino, to jointly address the needs in matters of prevention of this great European cultural itinerary.

The aforementioned collaboration between the Civil Guard and the AMCS has also led, as explained by the Chief of the Seprona, the reinforcement of ordinary citizen security devices along the Camino de Santiago, through the joint deployment of mixed patrols of the Civil Guard with members of the French National Gendarmerie, the Republican National Guard of Portugal and the Carabinieri Weapon.

Finally, within the agreements of the signed procedure, the Civil Guard and the AMCS, with the collaboration of the City Council of Santiago, will hold this Saturday's First Technical Conference in Santiago de Compostela, which will be intended to provide members of various specialties of the Civil Guard (Judicial Police, SEPRONA, Public Safety, etc.), theoretical tools and practices to improve the security of the Camino de Santiago from an internal and own vision. The Technical Day of November 30, aims to be a pilot experience that will be extended to the other four Autonomous Communities throughout the year 2020.

Finally, Carlos Alberdi has expressed that in these years prior to the next Holy Year it is especially important that all Administrations with competences on the Camino act in a coordinated manner to be prepared for the increase in pilgrims expected in 2021.

In this sense, the Ministry collaborates regularly with the Association of Municipalities of the Camino de Santiago. Since the signing of the Agreement between the two institutions, in 2018, joint projects have been carried out covering different areas of the Camino, such as signaling, cultural programming and, on this occasion, security.

For more information, contact the Civil Guard Press Office at 915146010.