Daroca de Rioja is one of the Rioja municipalities that has had video surveillance cameras for approximately a year and a half. Its mayor, Luis Armando Rodríguez Echapresto, explained to Rioja2 that it was the neighborhood that requested the installation of these mechanisms. “We placed them because the neighbors requested it and it was fully agreed upon.” The reasons are the small number of people who live in Daroca de Rioja during the winter. “There are few people who live in this town, especially in winter, older people to whom these cameras give a lot of security.”
At the moment, in Daroca de Rioja there are four cameras installed: two for video surveillance in the town square and another two for traffic control at the entrance and exits of the municipality. Systems that have a deterrent and preventive effect. “The townspeople want to request more, we are going to ask for more cameras, but they will have to be for traffic control and not video surveillance because the latter are authorized based on the number of inhabitants and in a municipality like Daroca de Rioja with 60 neighbors, “Two video surveillance cameras are enough since one camera is established for 27 inhabitants.”
They requested them a year and a half ago and have renewed the authorization. In 2019, 156 cameras were installed in Rioja municipalities, Arnedo, Calahoarra, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Nájera, Alfaro and Lardero. And in 2024 the number of cameras has decreased to 65 although the number of municipalities has increased from 7 to 11. Cameras that are installed in Logroño, Haro Villamediana de Iregua, Sajazarra, El Villar de Arnedo, Cihuri, Fuenmayor, Navarrete, Pradejón , Daroca de Rioja and Uruñuela. One of the reasons may perhaps be that this authorization must be renewed and requested annually as Daroca de Rioja has done.
Installation of video surveillance in towns without Local Police
In 2019, the demand for installing cameras in small towns increased, installations that were not covered by the Law as there was no Local Police until 2020, the date on which small town councils can now install these mechanisms in public places.
Thus, municipalities such as Daroca de Rioja that do not have a Local Police, must make the request to the Government Delegation in La Rioja along with information related to the streets or places where the cameras will be installed, if the area is delimited, fenced. or it is an open public space, the number of cameras and the time period in which the recordings are intended to be made: time slot, 24 hours, night time, among others. And with all this information, it will be the Government Delegation in La Rioja that grants the authorization, following a report from the Guarantees Commission chaired by the president of the Superior Court of Justice of La Rioja and of which the State Prosecutor’s Office and Lawyers are also part. .
Rural video surveillance seminar
All these issues will be addressed in the ‘Rural video surveillance seminar’ that will take place this Wednesday at the Government Delegation in La Rioja. And these days the Open Administration Week is being celebrated, an initiative that aims to bring Public Administrations closer to citizens.
The Rural Video Surveillance Seminar is aimed at municipal secretaries and mayors and its objective is to detail the procedure established by the Government Delegation in La Rioja to be able to install these cameras in smaller towns in situations of citizen insecurity. It will take place this Wednesday, June 12, from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Government Delegation in La Rioja.
