ISSUE NO. 1665
1 - 7 June 2017
COSTA DE ALMERÍA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
The good life Crime plummets across province By Matthew Elliott Crime rates across Almeria have dropped dramatically in 2017 making it one of the safest provinces in Spain. Violent crimes, robberies, car thefts have all tumbled according to new statistics revealed by the Interior Ministry. There were just over 7,000 crimes committed in the first quarter of the year, a huge drop on 2016. It is the steepest decline since the crisis and makes 2017 the fifth consecutive year in which the province’s streets have gotten safer. Almeria now enjoys a crime rate that is six points below the Andalucian average. Violent assaults have plummeted by 29.4 per cent in 2017. Residents of the province are less likely than almost anywhere else in southern Spain to experience violence. Muggings have shot down. Car thefts fell by more than 22 per cent. Police are seeing huge successes targeting drug and people smugglers.
We’ve got the buzz THE EWN MEDIA GROUP’S (EWNMG) rapid expansion continues with the inclusion of another English-language media brand. Benidorm-based Buzz Newspapers has now been added to the g r o u p ’s p o r t f o l i o , bringing the overall number of publications to 13 weekly and two fortnightly titles. In addition to the Buzz, the EWNMG also includes the Euro We e k l y N e w s , R T N and Sol Times, placing the company in a unique position within the sector in Spain. Turn to page 2
Still more work needs to be done. Burglaries fell by 12 per cent but the province retains a daily average of seven home robberies per day. The number is concerningly high and boosted by Almeria’s largely rural terrain. Cases of sexual harassment
and abuse bucked the wider trend and shot up by 48.6 per cent. Several incidents of domestic violence, including one gruesome murder-suicide, have led to the establishment of new rapid-reaction police units to defend vulnerable women.
ALMERIA: Shaping up to be one of the safest places. With police forces across the province adding new officers and equipment, Almeria is shaping up to be one of the safest places in an increasingly volatile world.