The 'kit' of emergency for when they steal everything from you at the beach: t-shirt, flip-flops and a metro ticket

BarcelonaThey are often stretched out on a towel, pretending, and even sometimes go into the water for a while to cool off. They are looking for their next victim. When they find one, they wait. They only spring into action if one of these two conditions is met: if the target goes for a swim and no one is watching their belongings, or if the victim falls into a deep sleep. If this happens, the thief walks up to the towel, grabs everything the person has, and leaves the beach. When the victim returns from the water or wakes up, they realize they have been robbed of everything. Their wallet, their phone, and also their clothes and shoes.

This has been happening on Barcelona's beaches for some time. During the summer, victims (especially tourists) parade through the Guardia Urbana police stations barefoot, wearing only swim trunks or a bikini. The solution is a survival kit that fills the shelves of police stations near the sea. They arrive when the Beach Unit is activated, on June 5th, and set up in a kind of barrack next to the sand. At first glance, they look like sealed packages, as if you had bought a piece of clothing online. They come in various sizes and inside there is a white t-shirt (with the City Council logo), sweatpants, blue flip-flops, and a metro or bus ticket to get back to the hotel. Anyone who arrives with nothing and files a report can collect one of these kits.

It doesn't happen every day. Last summer, for example, a hundred were purchased and not all were distributed. This Monday, at the Guardia Urbana headquarters on Bogatell beach, none had to be given out. In the morning, a young man approached them reporting that all his documents had been stolen, but his clothes had been left untouched on his towel. In this barrack (air-conditioned and well-equipped) at Bogatell, the shelves are full of kits of various sizes. There have been few robberies of this type. On the other hand, in a room a little further inside that serves as a storage area, some bags confiscated by the Beach Unit are starting to accumulate.

Beach lifeguards with badge

This unit is made up of a group of police officers who perform other tasks during the year, but from June to September their "natural habitat" is the sand. They are the beach patrol officers with badges, and many of them have lifesaving certifications, in case they need to act as lifeguards one day. Their main function, however, is to patrol the beach. You will recognize this unit because they are the only ones (with the permission of the officers who go by bike) who wear shorts. This doesn't mean they don't get hot: bulletproof vest, gun, handcuffs, baton... They patrol on foot, but they admit that Barcelona's beaches are very long, and if they have to do it for a long time, they prefer to go by quad.

There are others who are harder to detect. They wear street clothes, sunglasses, and stroll around the area with Bicing. Who would say they are police? Well, they are. Plainclothes officers are the most efficient at spotting thieves and street vendors. This Monday, for example, a man on a Bicing was riding along the promenade with two plastic bags full of drinks and several towels hanging from his back. Was he going to a drinking party? Not entirely, he was a plainclothes police officer who had just fined a street vendor.

Between police officers and vendors, there is a sort of internal code (neither agreed upon nor signed) to avoid disturbances on the beach. Many know each other. This Monday, a street vendor (who at the time was carrying nothing) said "I'm glad to see you" to a police officer. If they see them selling from a distance, the officers approach them slowly. Normally, the vendor quickly leaves, and that's the end of it. If they catch them red-handed, however, they don't usually run; they pay the 70 euro fine and will probably return the next day. In one summer weekend, up to 2,000 cans of drinks and 500 towels can be confiscated.

There are all sorts of stories, and the officers who have worked for years in the Beach Unit know them all. They recount how some vendors now work as legalized waiters in beach bars. Others, however, have become "more enterprising" and now also steal bathers' belongings. Many are left without clothes, but the next day cleaning services usually find them in the trash and take them to the Local Police. The beach is a place where you find everything. The daily bread and butter are keys, and it is often "impossible to decipher who owns them," but sometimes there are more unusual finds, like the time they pulled a sex toy out of the sand.

This Monday, a man who was snorkeling saw an iPhone 14 at the bottom of the sea. He picked it up and took it to the Local Police, who put it on to charge to see if it worked. And yes, it turned on and a call came in from the United Kingdom. It was the mother of the young owner of the phone, worried.