JSwalker134
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Portugues, 20, Fisterra, 23
I understand this forum isn't the place to report every crime, I'm not just making a crime report, but to tell people the Xunta de Galicia albergues do not have working cameras
After my unfortunate experience in Fisterra I did a few more caminos and wound up in Santiago again, stayed in the Xunta albergue in San Lazaro. A teenage female Spanish pilgrim in a scout group had her iphone stolen from her bed as it was charging, I was in the same dormitorio but was out when it happened. I can imagine that ruined her camino experience, she seemed very distraught, all of the scout group seemed quite upset actually, and her parents actually drove to Santiago from somewhere faraway in Spain to comfort her. But anyway, the issue is that the Xunta albergues generally have cameras, so you'd think it's a chance to get the thieves, who will almost certainly be known to local police. (No cameras in the dormitorio, there were in the entrance and the common areas). But no...
According to the hospitalero the cameras didn't work because the Xunta did not renew the contract with the private security company to monitor them, they had a contract, didn't make the payments and the contract expired. I cannot verify this, however he explained in Spanish to the leader of the scout group, he was asking about the cameras as well. I think this needs to be shared and publicised, because the Xunta run albergues should be run to a higher standard than private ones because they are a larger organisation. Someone needs to start making formal complaints. I have stayed in Xunta run albergues before and felt they had a better security because of the cameras, and the (admittedly disliked) nightly curfew
The night before it was stolen, I noticed two youngish men who looked quite shifty prowling around in the communal area of the albergue, they didn't look like pilgrims and they didn't respond to my greetings of Hola when they entered the communal area, they seemed to spend a lot of time walking around and scanning the tables and power outlets. I didn't really think about it at the time because I was tired rom walking, also im kinda non judgmental and thought maybe they are Spanish pilgrims with no English just don't want to socialise and were simply looking for a place to charge their own phones. I felt they were kinda suspicious though, but there is no information about reporting suspicious people, the hospitalero had left and I had no idea if they were actually staying or not. And I also believed that the functioning (lol) cameras were a deterrent enough, that basically to steal something in a room with cameras would be very stupid.
Just a shoutout that even if your albergue has cameras, half the time they don't work. Both cases of crime, my incident and this other recent one, there were cameras, but they were not work. And PSA, do not leave your possessions anywhere out of sight, even charging them. Don't even go to the toilet and leave them! It's also advisable to get a powerbank to have as a reserve battery, charge that in public area and charge your phone from it while you are walking. and as a general regard to levels of crime on the camino, in the space of just over a month walking caminos (with some rest days) I've 2 direct experiences of phones/valuables being stolen, as well as other people saying things like that have happened to them.
After my unfortunate experience in Fisterra I did a few more caminos and wound up in Santiago again, stayed in the Xunta albergue in San Lazaro. A teenage female Spanish pilgrim in a scout group had her iphone stolen from her bed as it was charging, I was in the same dormitorio but was out when it happened. I can imagine that ruined her camino experience, she seemed very distraught, all of the scout group seemed quite upset actually, and her parents actually drove to Santiago from somewhere faraway in Spain to comfort her. But anyway, the issue is that the Xunta albergues generally have cameras, so you'd think it's a chance to get the thieves, who will almost certainly be known to local police. (No cameras in the dormitorio, there were in the entrance and the common areas). But no...
According to the hospitalero the cameras didn't work because the Xunta did not renew the contract with the private security company to monitor them, they had a contract, didn't make the payments and the contract expired. I cannot verify this, however he explained in Spanish to the leader of the scout group, he was asking about the cameras as well. I think this needs to be shared and publicised, because the Xunta run albergues should be run to a higher standard than private ones because they are a larger organisation. Someone needs to start making formal complaints. I have stayed in Xunta run albergues before and felt they had a better security because of the cameras, and the (admittedly disliked) nightly curfew
The night before it was stolen, I noticed two youngish men who looked quite shifty prowling around in the communal area of the albergue, they didn't look like pilgrims and they didn't respond to my greetings of Hola when they entered the communal area, they seemed to spend a lot of time walking around and scanning the tables and power outlets. I didn't really think about it at the time because I was tired rom walking, also im kinda non judgmental and thought maybe they are Spanish pilgrims with no English just don't want to socialise and were simply looking for a place to charge their own phones. I felt they were kinda suspicious though, but there is no information about reporting suspicious people, the hospitalero had left and I had no idea if they were actually staying or not. And I also believed that the functioning (lol) cameras were a deterrent enough, that basically to steal something in a room with cameras would be very stupid.
Just a shoutout that even if your albergue has cameras, half the time they don't work. Both cases of crime, my incident and this other recent one, there were cameras, but they were not work. And PSA, do not leave your possessions anywhere out of sight, even charging them. Don't even go to the toilet and leave them! It's also advisable to get a powerbank to have as a reserve battery, charge that in public area and charge your phone from it while you are walking. and as a general regard to levels of crime on the camino, in the space of just over a month walking caminos (with some rest days) I've 2 direct experiences of phones/valuables being stolen, as well as other people saying things like that have happened to them.