The mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón (PP), has questioned the Spanish government's official statistics on the city's safety and demanded the incorporation of 100 to 150 more state security force officers. According to the mayor, the Civil Guard's staffing levels are the same as a decade ago, despite the city's demographic growth, which has around 115,000 registered inhabitants and can reach up to 400,000 during the summer.
Dolón has compared the situation with Benidorm, which has between 300 and 350 National Police officers for a lower floating population. The mayor criticizes that the public's feeling of insecurity is "evident and notorious" and accuses the Spanish government of "lying" and deceiving citizens, suggesting that the decrease in crime might be due to fewer reported incidents.
In response, the government's sub-delegation presented figures showing a 9% drop in criminal offenses between January and July of this year compared to the same period in 2025. According to sub-delegate Manuel Pineda, accompanied by the Colonel Chief of the Civil Guard Command in Alicante, Francisco Poyato, robberies with violence and intimidation have decreased by 20%, residential burglaries by 11%, and petty thefts by over 8%. A 7% decrease was also recorded during the summer period.
The sub-delegation highlighted that the Civil Guard in Torrevieja has seen a 7% increase in staff and that the average response time for officers is five minutes, denying citizen complaints. However, Dolón lamented that the Civil Guard's highest-ranking official is not telling the truth about the lack of resources and personnel, and pointed out that the Local Police are covering the Civil Guard's duties despite the municipal effort to hire more officers.
The mayor recalled special events like the Low music festival, which required a temporary reinforcement of 25 agents, and warned that the municipality's promenades experience five times the crowd of this event every weekend.
