The City Police has been adapting its service to ensure compliance with the measures adopted by the responsible authorities since the start of the health emergency. To this end, and since 15 October, the city’s police corps has been working to enforce the new measures adopted to tackle the pandemic. The City Police has continued to prioritise its surveillance and control of public spaces, stepped up its night-time services, established a specific operation to control illegal parties and/or shared alcohol consumption. It is also monitoring social media to detect illegal parties.

In this respect, the City Police received 226 phone calls over the weekend of 16-18 October relating to issues in public spaces, 12.8% of which were connected with people not respecting health measures. There were also 241 calls relating to venues and restaurants, 58% of which were to do with doubts over health regulations. While the task of the police over the new measures affecting bars and restaurants was mainly one of information and warnings, five establishments were formally reported this weekend.

The police made 647 formal denouncements for the consumption or alcohol in public space this weekend. A total of 6,911 people were warned for not wearing face masks or not using them properly, while 336 people were denounced for the same reason. The City Police also made 281 denouncements for not maintaining safety distances and 325 for people gathering in groups of more than six.

Figures since September

In the course of its work to enforce the health measures between 1 September and 18 October, Barcelona’s local police force moved a total of 28,822 people on for not complying with restrictions in place for the Covid-19 health crisis and made 3,772 denouncements for the consumption of alcohol in public places.

Regarding the use of face masks, the City Police issued a total of 41,995 warnings relating to compliance with regulations on their use in public places and made a total of 1,512 denouncements.