Barcelona’s beaches, including several quite close to the city’s center, are an important part of its lifestyle and attraction, but it also attracts sneak thieves who may help themselves to unattended belongings while bathers are in the water.
Beach patrol units from the city’s Guàrdia Urbana, who patrol the beach heavily but can’t prevent all thefts, have come up with a creative solution: an emergency “clothing replacement kit” containing a white T-shirt, dark blue shorts, flip-flops and a fare card for the public transport system, making it possible to return to their lodgings.
The beach patrol’s other shore responsibilities include keeping illegal vehicles off the beach and chasing unlicensed vendors. The nearly 200-strong force says that last year it prevented the sale of 116,018 unauthorized drinks and made 272 arrests, mostly for theft.
