by Staff Reporter
IT'S a nightmare situation for any parent: one minute their child is playing happily on the beach, their attention wanders and all of a sudden the child is missing.
The Calvia town council has launched a new scheme which it hopes will put an end to this nightmare and will solve the problem of lost children on the beaches.
Its tourism offices now have identity bracelets which will be issued to parents on request and will serve to identify a child who gets lost on one of its beaches, which are crowded throughout the summer.
A council spokesman said that they are similar to the devices which are used in hospitals and will show the name of the child, the name of the hotel where he is staying and the room number.
This new measure is part of the security campaign for the beaches organised by the Local Police for the summer season.
This year, Calvia has ten tourist police officers and five beach agents.
The beach agents were first introduced last year, and their main job is to handle the complaints presented at the tourism offices, making sure that they reached the correct department.
The tourist police are on duty for the first time this year, and not only in Calvia which includes the popular resorts of Magalluf, Palma Nova, Peguera, Illetas and Santa Ponsa.
They speak English and German and have been specially trained to help and advise tourists.
Local Police forces in resorts all over the island are also cracking down on the beach vendors who sell fruit and canned drinks at exhorbitant prices and not always in the most hygienic of conditions.
There has also been a major crackdown on petty crime.
All the main beaches on the island also have life guards, most of them provided by the Red Cross, and new life guard posts are being constructed.
The authorities have improved safety conditions on the beaches as they want to cut down the number of deaths by drowning which occur each summer.
The Balearic government is also improving facilities for the disabled at the local beaches, starting with the Playa de Palma.