Ibiza cops want more money to police rowdy Brits
Semi-naked British revellers falling out of clubs in the early hours of the morning, fights in the street and sex on the beach are ensuring that Ibiza has become the posting to avoid for Spanish police officers.
If the job of keeping a lid on the bad behaviour of the 750,000 or so Britons who visit the island each year was well paid, it might be worth the effort, but officers claim that their salaries do not even cover local rents.
The annual invasion of British hen parties and stag weekends stretches Ibiza’s thin blue line to breaking point because officers will work there.
Surviving on a monthly police wage of between €1600 and €1700 (NZ$2350 to $2500) is proving difficult. It costs about €1600 a month to rent a flat on Ibiza in winter, and far more in summer.
Jose Manuel Mariscal de Gante, head of the local police, said: ‘‘It is not worth anyone coming here, because they have to spend all their wages on accommodation.’’
The situation has become so bad that Juan Ignacio Zoido, the interior minister, has acknowledged that the shortage is a ‘‘priority problem’’.
With tourists concerned few about terrorism in places such as Turkey and Tunisia, Spain is enjoying an increase in the number of visitors. The Spanish economy is only now emerging from a downturn after the debt crisis at the turn of the decade.
But what should be an ideal posting on an island with a generally low crime rate, plenty of sunshine and a sprinkling of celebrity glamour in the form of regular visitors such as Kate Moss or Paris Hilton has proved to be the job from hell.
There are only 241 police officers in Ibiza, out of a recommended head count of 287, and that is based on 2007 figures. Since then the population of the island has risen from 100,000 to more than 150,000.
Carlos Munoz, of the Alternative Police Union, said officers who moved to Ibiza received a supplement of €218 (NZ$320) a month on top of their regular salary. He pointed out that those transferring to the Canary Islands got an extra €461 (NZ$680) a month.
Some Balearic hot spots, such as Magaluf, have called for fewer but richer tourists, in an attempt to ease the pressure on the local police.
Benidorm, on the mainland, has applied to become a Unesco World Heritage site in the hope of attracting richer visitors who, it claims, are less likely to spend their time getting drunk in clubs and bars.
Last summer 76 Britons were arrested in Ibiza for a variety of offences, while 594 British citizens were granted emergency travel documents, and 258 were offered other types of help by the British consul, according to officials.
Nearly 17 million Britons visited Spain last year, and the Balearic Islands were among the most popular destinations. The Association of British Travel Agents says that bookings to Ibiza, Majorca and Minorca are up by 7 per cent on last year.