The act of a pyromaniac in Porreres, who set fire to thirteen cars over a two-hour period in the early hours of Tuesday morning, has exposed the lack of police in many of Mallorca's villages at nighttime.
The Guardia Civil, who themselves have limited resources, are responsible for covering municipalities that lack local police, but they are often called on to support incidents that occur in coastal areas. The better resourced police forces in larger municipalities such as Manacor, Inca, Calvia and Llucmajor provide support they can to neighbouring smaller municipalities. But the fact is that police presence at night is limited in many parts of the island.
Police authorities fear that a wave of car fires in Palma will spread to the rest of Mallorca and that Porreres was the first example of this.
Town halls have been calling for an increase in their police forces for years, but they have been hampered by spending limits. Porreres has no officers to cover the night shift, so the town hall is considering installing security cameras on the streets as a means of at least trying to deter incidents such as those on Tuesday.