The commissioner of the Local Police of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Carmen Delia González, is the protagonist of a new controversy after taking vacations in full special device for the celebration of the long-awaited Carnivals in the island capital, after two years suspended by the pandemic. The controversy is accentuated when it is revealed that González herself sent, on April 4, a service order to the staff announcing that, “during the period between June 23 and 26, both inclusive, Permits would only be authorized in duly justified exceptional cases.”
Canarian Coalition lets the file expire to the head of the Local Police of Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the party at the police station during confinement
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As this newspaper has learned, González decided to enjoy his days off just as the Festival of International Tourist Interest was taking place, which included the participation of 500 agents from the National Police, the Civil Guard, the Local Police and the Police. Canaria before the forecast of absolute full and, according to its own order, before the “Anti-terrorist Alert situation, at level 4 -high risk-, reinforced when acts of great interest occur”.
Thus, González pointed out in the report that, on the occasion of the 2022 Carnival Festivities and “due to service needs”, given the large number of events with a massive influx of public expected and to “guarantee the normal development” of all appointments, agents would not be granted days off or vacations unless the request was well justified.
In the letter, the commissioner foresaw massive public attendance in the capital, especially since it was the first Carnival after two years of the pandemic and restrictions due to COVID-19. To this, it was added that the street party would take place in the middle of June, with good weather and after the end of the school year. “A considerable increase in the traffic of people and road traffic is expected and, with it, a greater number of police services that cannot be answered solely with the police officers normally assigned to the Operational Groups, we must also add the current situation of Antiterrorist Alert, which is at level 4 (reinforced when acts of great interest occur)”, can be read.
Canarias Now he has contacted the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to find out his version of the events. However, a response has not been received despite the insistence by different means, bouncing the question from one department to another.
An expired disciplinary record
It is not the first time that Carmen Delia González has starred in a controversial event in the capital. It should be remembered that in full confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, while all the chicharreros remained at home to stop the spread of infections, at the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Local Police station, located on Avenida On May 3, a party was held in which the commissioner participated and where the current regulations were not respected at any time. This could be seen in the photos that began to circulate on social networks, which were a source of indignation for the Santacruceros in those days; images that motivated her dismissal as head of the local security body and that prompted a disciplinary file proposed by the government team at that time, led by the socialist Patricia Hernández and under the direction of the area councilor Florentino Guzmán.
A year later and after the motion of censure by José Manuel Bermúdez (Canarian Coalition), backed by his supporters, the Popular Party and Evelyn Alonso, a fugitive from Ciudadanos and now Councilor for Security, the disciplinary file was allowed to expire.
Questioned at that time about this matter, Guzmán said that the situation was “embarrassing” for him. “It is a shame that we ask citizens to be responsible and that those most responsible for maintaining order are the first to break the rules. It is a shame that the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, led by the Canarian Coalition, has allowed this disciplinary file to expire, ”he lamented.
The file, dated May 22, 2020, reached the hands of instructor Francisco Clavijo Rodríguez almost five months later, on October 8. This new instructor was appointed on September 18, after the change of socialist government as a result of the motion of censure. The law establishes that all the sanctions filed against members of the Local and National Police have an expiration of six months, so the administration must prioritize its resolution so that it does not expire. “Canarian Coalition came to govern in June, why did not work on this matter in all those months”, questioned Florentino Guzmán.
From former position of Canarian Coalition to former chief of police and commissioner
“This only shows that the Canarian Coalition, before ATI, continues to do the same, protecting their own against everything,” concluded the socialist. It should be remembered that Carmen Delia González was a member of the Canarian Coalition and appointed by the nationalists, during the government of Fernando Clavijo, in 2007, as general director of Security and Emergencies, in addition, she was a councilor of the Santa Cruz City Council between 2011 and 2015 with Miguel Zerolo (CC).
González, in addition, was the first woman to assume a position as head of the Local Police of a provincial capital, a position that she did not stop holding until she was dismissed, after finding herself immersed in a disciplinary file for her participation in the party at the police station. at the end of April, in full force of the state of alarm and violating the precepts on confinement and protection measures. As a result of the disclosure of what happened at the party, advanced by Canarias Now, an investigation was opened and the subsequent file that led to her dismissal.
Despite everything, the catalog of jobs of the Local Police of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has a vacant position for chief commissioner and another for commissioner –occupied as a property official by González-; below, three deputy commissioner seats. For practical purposes, and being a hierarchical institution, the police station remains above the chain of command of the local security forces as it is the one with the highest hierarchy in the ranks, and in a position to claim compensation for the exercise of these functions as if it were still will continue in the Corps Headquarters.
A local police chief repeat offender in breach of restrictions
In August 2020, Carmen Delia González was once again the center of the scandal with an episode very similar to the one that occurred four months earlier at the police station. The then head of the Local Police of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was seen celebrating her birthday by the sea in the Puertito de Güímar, an entertainment in which those present neither respected the rules on the mandatory use of masks nor preserved distances, as as testified by a series of photos that immortalized the event, in which there was no shortage of drinks and toasts.
