Barcelona City Council

Dear Albert,

Throughout your service to Barcelona, you have always been clear that community life is a basic right and an obligation for everyone who shares this city.  Safety and security in public spaces is a cornerstone of our democracy. In its absence, everyone, but especially the most vulnerable, lose freedoms. Peaceful community life is what makes it possible to enjoy freedoms; safety and security guarantee that this can be exercised pacifically. Therefore, safety and community life are two sides of the same coin, essential factors to ensure respect for shared public spaces and the freedom of other people. We use prevention as the first priority of safety and security, and civic behaviour and shared responsibility as the instruments that make peaceful community life possible.

For this reason, public spaces are one of the priorities for this term of office. As head of the Area for Safety, Prevention and Coexistence, your mission will be to design and apply public policies that aim to ensure and promote the full exercising of the rights and freedoms of everyone living in the city, within a framework of collective safety and peaceful community life.

Therefore, as the Third Deputy Mayor for Safety, Prevention, Coexistence and Internal Regime, you should focus on the following priorities:

• Commitment to an inclusive, integrating vision of safety. Creating new nocturnal units for the Guàrdia Urbana police force and new assistance points for the victims of gender violence. Strengthening prevention mechanisms for sexual assaults in leisure areas. Strengthening our commitment to creating a city that is totally safe for the LGBTIQ+ community. Promoting a plan to combat racism and xenophobia in all areas.
• Putting prevention at the centre of our safety and security model. Fostering local policing. Increasing the number of the Guàrdia Urbana’s Citizen Assistance Points. Improving the force’s technological resources in order to facilitate direct, bilateral communication.
• Fostering our commitment to community life and civic behaviour in public spaces. Creating a Community Life Commission as a specific instrument for coordinating and fostering municipal policies in this area. Promoting a new Community Life and Civic Behaviour Plan for 2023-2027. Giving a more important role to civic officers. Providing knowledge about citizen rights, obligations and shared responsibility through communication campaigns.
• Strengthening the defence of public spaces and combating antisocial behaviour. Reviewing the Community Life by-law – in order to adapt it to new phenomena and realities – and increasing the economic cost associated with penal measures. Combating antisocial behaviour in city streets and squares, as well as graffiti.  The vast majority of people, who act with responsible, civic behaviour, should not be adversely affected by the actions of a small minority.
• Leading the support for all the professionals working in our security forces. Increasing and consolidating Guàrdia Urbana and Fire Service personnel. Promoting parity within the security forces. Committing to the creation of new installations and better facilities. Calling for a more solid commitment to safety and security in public spaces from other public administrations.

I am convinced that you will use all your verve, dedication and wisdom to make Barcelona a great example of community life and a place where everyone feels safe and respected, making dialogue and agreement the basis of your work. 

Kind regards,