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For the past few weeks now, Palma Local Police dog handlers have been out training their dogs and getting them used to working the busy city centre with the aim of having regular patrols on the beat throughout the summer.

The highly skilled dogs are not only trained in riot control but also detecting drugs and explosive devices.
In total, the Local Police have eight teams of dog handlers and they will be patrolling in pairs.
Safe Tourism Plan
Also yesterday, the National Police, published a set of guidelines they suggest tourists should follow this year in order to remain safe and secure.
The “Safe Tourism Plan” includes a number of tips of how to enjoy the summer but at the same time, are urging the general public and holiday makers to use their common sense to make the police’s work easier and more effective as well. Plain clothed officers will be riding the most popular tourist buses and trains on the look out for petty criminals, but in the National Police plan, they strongly advise tourists to make sure their belongings, such as hand bags, are secure and that wallets are well concealed.

One of the principal warnings is not to get conned by would be tourists especially at airport and supermarket car parks which are common locations for car thieves targeting holiday makers and foreign residents.

It was certainly an all island event with a bus-load of members from the south of the island heading north for the big event. More than 150 people attended.

This year there were some fantastic entries in all categories. Prizes were presented by ESRAPresident Michael Booker and the editor of the Majorca Daily Bulletin Jason Moore.

The Council of Majorca is particularly interested in further excavating the site and conserving what has been brought to light. The island authority therefore wants to expropriate certain tracts of land adjacent to the original find.

The Council’s intentions were explained yesterday by Miquel Barceló, the General Secretary of the Culture and Heritage department. He said that the money for further investigation and conservation could be taken from the Council of Majorca’s road building budget.

Barceló said that were the expropriation not possible at this moment in time, the archaeological remains of the baths which have already been exposed would be covered up to protect them from further deterioration whilst the expropriation process continued.

The Council is not just interested in the site purely for its archaeological value, explained Barceló but also for its potential as a future cultural tourism attraction.

She said that beach cleanliness was essential to the image of Majorca as a top tourist destination and that if floating waste is allowed to reach the shore, there is a danger that this year’s tourist community will not want to repeat the visit.

Benito said that the loss of the cleaning boats, with mechanised sweeping arms to scoop waste floating either on or near the surface out of the water, would be “a tragedy” for the island. She said that “thousands of tonnes of plastic” have been removed from the sea every year since the operation began a decade ago.