The Partido Popular opposition are pointing to data which suggest that Palma is now the fifth most unsafe city in Spain with 50,000 or more residents. This compares with the situation in 2016 when Palma was sixteenth.
The president of the PP in Palma, Jaime Martínez, attributes this to "the progressive loss of local police officers". According to the PP's own figures, there are currently 600 officers on the streets, whereas there were 1,000 twenty years ago, at a time when the population of the municipality was some 100,000 lower.
Martínez, a former Balearic tourism minister and likely PP candidate for mayor at the next election, says that if the number of officers doesn't increase to at least 900 by the time of the election (May 2023), the PP will increase numbers "when we come to govern". In his view, residents of Palma have had enough of high crime rates, which he blames on a lack of security on the streets, "especially at night".