The final balance of the security and emergency device displayed in this edition of the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been closed with a total of 312 people served during the days of the festival. From the analysis of the data, it is concluded that the main reason for such attentions is alcohol consumption, in fact, 52.5 percent of them are caused by said issue.
The change of dates and the reduction of the days of celebrations, compared to previous years, do not seem to have affected the presence of people in the different massive acts of the Carnival. In fact, in terms of security, data similar to that generated in previous carnivals has been moved.
The Councilor for Citizen Security and Emergencies, Evelyn Alonso, has valued “the enormous work of the entire device that has been aware of the safety of the carnival people”. “We have worked with rigor, professionalism and close coordination,” she declared.
In addition, the mayor wanted to remember that it is “a very safe carnival for two essential reasons: first, due to the natural idiosyncrasy of the chicharreros and those who visit us, who are quite clear that they come to have fun without causing problems and with a tolerance very characteristic festive; and second, because the City Council has a perfectly fine-tuned security and emergency team, with enormous experience in managing this type of massive event,” she added.
Evelyn Alonso thanked all the personnel involved in the security of the Carnival, “from the National Police, the Firefighters Consortium, the Spanish Red Cross, the Local Police, the Civil Protection volunteer group, the municipal Civil Protection technicians and CETRA-Cecopal staff, together with other professionals who have also collaborated so that we continue to have a very safe and transparent Carnival that is an example inside and outside the Canary Islands”, he concluded.
With respect to previous years, the decrease in the number of minors who needed to be assisted by health stands out. In quantitative terms, 45 minors passed through the facilities of the Hospital del Carnaval. Another piece of data in which an evident reduction in cases is observed is in the attention derived from possible aggressions or participation in brawls, reaching a total of nine people attended for this reason, 2.8 percent of the total, concentrating these situations in the early morning of the party. No stab injuries were reported during this year’s celebrations.
Intoxications due to the consumption of narcotic substances accounted for 24 cases since last Thursday, 7.6 percent of the total number of people assisted.
Regarding injuries and falls, one of the issues that most often occur during carnivals, in this edition they account for almost 18 percent of the interventions, with 45 cases if we add both causes of those people who needed health care for this reason. To carry out diagnostic tests or specialized care, 28 people had to be referred to hospital centers from the Carnival Hospital health device, and of this number, 57 percent were in the age range between 18 and 40 years.
Regarding the distribution by sex of the people who needed to be assisted during the carnival celebrations, 57 percent were men and 43 percent women.
DATA ANALYSIS BY DAYS
48 percent of the attention demanded from the security and emergency device of the Carnival were concentrated on the night shift last Saturday. In addition, the statistical analysis of the last 15 carnivals, between 2006 and 2020, offers an almost exact compliance with the average attendance of the first Saturday nights of those years, with that historical average of 141 attendances at the Carnival Hospital.
The two editions of the daytime carnivals brought together some 60 cases, 19.2 percent of the total; while, on Friday night, the 88 cases translate into 28.2 percent of the total. During the parades or cavalcades, in this edition the Burial of the Sardine and the Cavalcade, it was necessary to attend 14 people, a figure that does not represent even five percent of the total attention generated.
Once again, the Local Police unit attached to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office was present at the facilities of the Hospital del Carnaval, several agents reinforced this essential work for the identification and protection of the youngest during these days of street festivities. This unit recorded the data of 53 minors and, in collaboration with the psychosocial and health team arranged by the Spanish Red Cross, attended and processed the appropriate reports.
These agents, in addition to documenting the reason or attendance of the minors in this preventive device, are in charge of notifying their legal guardians and proceeding with the legal delivery when they come to pick them up at the Carnival Hospital. Reports are made of all these circumstances and sent to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Through this police filter all the data of 30 boys and 23 girls passed, mostly for issues related to alcohol consumption, another curious fact being that the average age of the minors served was around almost 16 years.
VIOLET POINT SERVICE
This year, as has been the case since 2019, the specialized service of the Violet Point was also provided at the Carnival Hospital facilities, where several professionals have been advising, informing and even accompanying people who requested it or were referred by personnel from bodies and security forces or health professionals involved in the preventive device of the Santacrucero Carnival.
The figures indicate that a total of 22 people requested information from this resource, being 12 women and 10 men, and in the daily reports of their activity it is established that there were, in addition, six consultations for advice; three of accompaniment, one gender violence and two possible situations that led to the activation of the protocol for sexual violence, pending the mandatory confirmation. The Women, Solidarity and Cooperation association has been in charge of managing this resource.
GARBAGE COLLECTION
On the other hand, the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, through the Department of Public Services, collected a total of 192,100 kilos of waste during the Carnival in the street. The special cleaning operation involved 150 workers who collected 5,300 kilos of packaging, 4,080 kilos of paper and cardboard and more than 182,720 kilos of debris between Thursday and Monday.
According to the cleaning and collection company, the day that the most waste was recovered was Sunday, with a total of 75,300 kilos of remains, 1,200 kilos of plastic containers and 1,040 kilos of paper and cardboard. A decrease in collected waste of 48.9% is recorded with respect to the last edition of the Carnival in 2020, also due to the fact that this atypical celebration in June had a single weekend.
With regard to cleaning, Valoriza SA used more than 1,004,800 liters of reclaimed water for flushing tasks, 262,125 liters of drinking water and 1,185 liters of cleaning products, such as disinfectants and deodorizers.
