Introducing the scheme#
Four steps, over about a fortnight. The only one people get wrong is the last: they explain it beautifully and then let everyone go home without signing up.
Don’t go asking for permission#
There’s an instinct to start at the Guardia Civil puesto. Don’t. Neighbours agreeing to help each other isn’t a policing activity, so nobody has to authorise it — and walking in to ask makes it sound like something that needs authorising, which invites a no from someone who was never asked to decide.
Escudo stays legitimate by what it does, not by who has blessed it: 062 and 112 on every alert, nobody patrolling, nobody confronting anyone. The Guardia Civil meets a Red Escudo the ordinary way — a village that rings them faster and knows the plate number.
1. The Junta Vecinal and the Ayuntamiento#
These are the village’s own institutions and they should hear it from you rather than as a rumour. They may offer a room, a noticeboard, or the cost of the signs.
2. A village meeting#
Half an hour, in the bar or the salón, no slides. Cover four things:
- What happens now when someone falls, and how long it takes.
- What the button does, shown on a real phone.
- What members are not asked to do: no patrolling, no confronting anyone, no obligation to answer any particular alert.
- What you’ll do with people’s numbers, and how to leave.
Expect the question “isn’t this just for the young ones with smartphones?” The answer is no, and here’s why.
3. Sign people up in the room#
Not next week. Phones in hand, at the table, before anyone goes home — a leaflet signs nobody up. That’s the next protocol.
4. A drill within the month#
While it’s still new, and before anyone has had time to silence their phone. Half the setup will turn out to be wrong, which is the point — how.