They guarded the streets and turned on the street lights. They opened the doors to the unrepentant night owls and helped the forgetful neighbors who misplaced their keys. But, above all, they proclaimed the time and gave the weather report. Their cry, which had a special echo in the silence of the night, even gave them their name. «! Two o'clock and serene!" they sang at that hour, with a clear sky, and with their plate caps well fitted.

About half a century ago, the serene, also in Seville, extinguished their lantern and put away the chuzo – the kind of short spear with which they were armed – and that cry will never be heard again. But the figure of the watchman will once again be recognizable in the streets of the Andalusian capital. A serene man of the 200st century, without a coat, without a bluff and without a bluff, but, in essence, the same one who for <> years was the sure answer to a request for help. No matter how dark it was, the watchman was just a phone call away in case of need.

On the 21st of this month, the new security guards of Seville will make their first round, which the Seville City Council has baptized as "civic agents", an administrative name that will not go beyond the limits of the specifications by which last November it called for the 20 places of what is called to be a pilot project that, If it works as envisioned, it will extend in time and space. Because, in the beginning, only the old town, the heart of the city, will be the territory of the serene.

La Alfalfa, El Arenal, La Encarnación and Calle Regina y Feria, El Museo, San Bartolomé, San Gil, San Julián, San Lorenzo, San Vicente, Santa Catalina and Santa Cruz will determine the limits in which the nine pairs of security guards will move - the tenth are those in charge of the service - who go to patrol these streets from 23 p.m. to six in the morning.

There will be notable differences between the serene that was definitively institutionalized in 1715, when the Corps of Serenos was created, and those that the local government of the PP is going to put on the streets in a few days. But the goal is not far off, to contribute to giving a sense of tranquility to the neighbors. They will not have a direct role in terms of security, but they will be the first link in the chain, the ones in charge of raising the first alarm and notifying the police forces.

In fact, the creation, or rather the recovery, of this body of security guards was announced by the mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, a few days after replacing the socialist Antonio Muñoz in office and after listening to the complaints of the downtown merchants in an institutional visit.

The Mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, during the institutional events of Police Day.EUROPA PRESS

On November 29, the Area of Cartuja, Innovative Parks, Employment, Economy, Trade and Consumption, in the hands of the former spokesman of Ciudadanos in the previous mandate signed by Sanz for his list of 28M, Álvaro Pimentel, detailed in five pages the catalog of services of these new security guards. Namely: to provide information about the city and its services; promoting civility among users of public services or spaces, such as parks and gardens; accompany people who need it in these spaces and people of special vulnerability; detect and raise the alarm in "problematic" situations such as accidents, "uncivil acts", criminal acts or emergencies in general; Encourage the care of street furniture and report any incident to the companies responsible.

In short, he summarises the call for the 20 places for this new municipal service, it is about the serenites "promoting good coexistence and respect among citizens, as well as the good use of the public and private assets of the city".

The serene, he adds, "will be a good citizen, who fosters civility armed with empathy and common sense."

In the selection process, it is not a requirement to be a "good person", but those who have been expelled from groups such as Civil Protection by means of a final administrative resolution, as well as from a private security company, as well as not having a current criminal record for crimes of gender or sexual violence or having been convicted in a final judgment for crimes against indemnity and sexual freedom, are excluded. trafficking and exploitation of minors.

The entire recruitment and selection process is being carried out by the Andalusian Employment Service (SAE), since the other raison d'être of this initiative is precisely to give a job opportunity to unemployed people who, aged between 40 and 45, do not find it easy to escape the unemployment lists.

The pilot program will last 9 months "and at its end we hope that it can have served for the labor insertion of all those people hired, thanks to the skills and competencies acquired," said Councilor Pimentel when he announced the date on which Seville will once again have security guards.

By the way, they already exist in a handful of Spanish cities where, as in the Andalusian capital, interest in this historical and almost literary figure has been reborn. It is widespread, above all, in Catalonia, but also in Puertollano, Albox (Almería) or Vitoria. There, the serene patrolled its streets a long time ago.

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  • Articles Chema Rodríguez