What's happening? San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero presented the security, emergency management and logistics plan for the 56th edition of the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián, Puerto Rico's largest cultural event, which brings all municipal departments together into a single operational, services and communications structure.
The plan includes the activation of 1,400 personnel (state and municipal police officers, as well as private security), the deployment of several units and more than 800 cameras around Old San Juan, and various initiatives to ensure the safety, cleanliness and enjoyment of participants, estimated at close to one million people.
Here are the key points of the security and logistics plan.
👮 Security measures and operational control
The mayor said that over the four days of the event, more than 1,400 personnel will be deployed, including:
600 municipal police officers,
400 private security officers (100 armed and 300 unarmed)
400 state police agents.
They will work in 12-hour shifts handling public order, property surveillance, stages, traffic control and public transit stations.
Municipal Police: Of the 600 active municipal police officers, 440 will be equipped with body cameras (bodycams), described as a measure of "transparency and security." In addition, 100 municipal officers were certified as specialized security facilitators for tourist events.
Bicycle unit: There will be bicycle patrol units in Old San Juan: 25 bicycles and 3 Tikke scooters.
Motorcycle unit: 110 municipal police officers on motorcycles will escort the special public transit buses for the SanSe.
Maritime unit: Four municipal launches, 2 jet skis and 1 boat for areas without launch access will also be activated. They will monitor the Cataño ferry crossing, the bay entrance and nearby bodies of water.
Other units to be activated:
K9 (canine) unit: 10 dogs will be assigned to Old San Juan to monitor for drugs and explosives.
Technical Services Unit: Available to handle incidents requiring documentation or evidence collection (such as property damage cases and others).
Impact Unit: although it has not been activated at the SanSe before, this unit is attached to the San Juan Security Commissioner and will remain at a nearby strategic point, in case it needs to respond to a major security incident.
Extended-hours precincts: The Casa Alcaldía and Covadonga precincts will operate on an extended 24-hour schedule.
🚨 Security infrastructure
Surveillance tower: Near the Plaza del Quinto Centenario, at the corner of Calle Dr. Francisco Rufino de Goenaga and Calle del Cristo, a surveillance tower will be placed alongside a communications truck.
5 Municipal Police drones: Operated by specialized agents, these are also available for emergency management and zone monitoring.
Weapons detectors: There will be 20 weapons detectors at the public transit transfer centers. No one will be allowed to board the buses with firearms or bladed weapons, even if they hold a license.
Security cameras: More than 800 cameras will monitor Old San Juan during the SanSe 2026, many of them operating with artificial intelligence.
25 Tower Cams (camera towers), each equipped with at least four cameras and a light for 360-degree visibility. They will serve to monitor the area around Old San Juan.
198 regular cameras from the monitoring system.
98 additional rented cameras.
Also included are the 440 bodycams worn by municipal police officers.
Emergency buttons (call boxes): There will be 10 emergency buttons, "call boxes" or "panic buttons," distributed strategically at plazas and key points along Calle San Sebastián. They are intended for emergencies such as missing children and other situations.
License Plate Recognition System: The Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) system will also be deployed to identify stolen vehicles, NCIC (National Crime Information Center) listings, missing vehicles and expired registration stickers.
"We are calling on everyone to come to the Fiestas to have a good time and enjoy themselves. We have a designated work team so that anyone who commits a crime is processed at the precinct and removed from the Isleta. We have precincts with cells, everything ready. We have been in communication with prosecutors to handle the commission of any crime at the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián."
Miguel Romero, mayor of San Juan
🚑 Health and emergency management
Romero indicated that the goal is for the response time to emergencies arising at SanSe 2026 to average 2 minutes or less per event. To that end, he highlighted several efforts:
Emergency Operations Center (COE): Located at the Antiguo Casino, this COE is operated and coordinated by the Oficina Municipal de Manejo de Emergencias (OMME). It will operate from Thursday, Jan. 15, at 7:00 a.m. through Monday, Jan. 19, at 6:00 a.m.
Municipal Health Team: The Municipal Health Department will have a team of 142 employees, made up of 72 nurses, 28 doctors and 41 support professionals, organized in 12-hour shifts at stations located at the Museo de San Juan, the Escuela de Artes Plásticas, the Teatro Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, the Guardia Nacional and Plaza de Armas.
Mobile units from the Sistema de Salud de la Capital will also be stationed at various points throughout the event.
OMME coordinated with the UPR's Recinto de Ciencias Médicas to have medical residents assist with operations. Two OMME specialist physicians will also be in the event area to respond to emergencies.
Emergency management equipment:
9 ambulances in Old San Juan and one additional unit assigned to the Sagrado Corazón station and Estadio Hiram Bithorn.
4 aerial drones to support security operations and environmental monitoring.
9 Kawasaki-type vehicles to respond to emergencies in the historic downtown and transport patients to the main emergency rooms.
3 rapid-response units (1 motorcycle and 2 SUV-type vehicles) to assist ambulances in the zone from Puente Dos Hermanos to the piers.
1 rescue truck with two specialized rescue workers.
3 fire suppression units with capacities of 50 gallons, 500 gallons and 2,500 gallons of non-potable water.
1 Kawasaki fire suppression unit designed for narrow areas.
3 aquatic drones for emergency response or environmental contamination incidents, operated by the Maritime Division.
Evacuation routes
Emergency medical units will have four marked evacuation routes that will function as emergency exits. These are:
Calle Norzagaray toward the Antiguo Casino (where the COE is located)
Calle San Francisco toward the Antiguo Casino
Calle Norzagaray, descending along Calle San Justo to the piers
Calle Fortaleza, descending along Calle Tetuán to the piers
Operating hours of the 7 emergency rooms at SanSe:
Museo de San Juan: Thursday through Sunday from 7:00 a.m. until close
Oficina de Turismo: Thursday and Friday from 12:00 p.m. until close; Saturday and Sunday from 7:00 a.m. until close
Plaza de Armas: Thursday and Friday from 3:00 p.m. until close; Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until close
Escuela de Artes Plásticas: Friday through Sunday from 6:00 p.m. until close
Guardia Nacional: Thursday and Friday from 6:00 p.m. until close; Saturday and Sunday from 3:00 p.m. until close
Vagón Hiram Bithorn: Thursday through Sunday from 8:00 a.m. until close
Vagón Sagrado Corazón: Thursday through Sunday from 8:00 a.m. until close
Major emergencies
If a patient requires transfer to a hospital, OMME coordinated with the following institutions:
Hospital Municipal
CDT Dr. Gualberto Rabell (Hoare)
Hospital Pavía Santurce
ASEM (Centro Médico)
Hospital Doctor's Health Center
Ashford Hospital
🎗️Prevention campaigns
The Municipality of San Juan has several active prevention campaigns during SanSe, aimed at raising awareness and intervening when necessary. These campaigns are:
Drug use prevention: Mobile units from the capital's health system will be on hand to provide guidance on opioid use and abuse.
Naloxona, known as Narcan, will be available. It is a medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. The mayor of San Juan said that in past years Narcan has been used in interventions with people who were intoxicated at the event.
Child and senior well-being: Social workers will be ready to intervene in cases of abuse involving seniors or children. They will be stationed at three points: the municipal transportation stations, the medical services stations at Teatro Tapia, and the Museo de San Juan.
San Juan's Departamento de Desarrollo Comunitario and the Departamento de la Familia are coordinating to intervene in emergencies involving missing minors and seniors, and to provide general support.
Sexual abuse prevention: La Oficina para el Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer (ODIM) will run its "Jangueo Seguro 2" initiative, which will provide guidance on preventing sexual abuse during SanSe.
They will distribute drink cover protectors to prevent substances from being slipped into beverages.
Línea 939-CONTIGO: This line (939-266-8446) will remain active from the COE as a support resource during the event.
♻️ Beautification, cleanup and recycling
The municipality will have 895 employees (425 of them municipal workers) handling cleaning and sanitation throughout the city. Old San Juan was divided into five cleaning zones: four within the walled city and one for the rest of the Isleta.
Work will run around the clock in 12-hour shifts over the four days of the event. There will be an additional shift on Monday to complete post-SanSe cleanup.
Cleaning equipment available:
10 residential waste compactors,
5 recycling compactors,
6 six-yard containers for glass collection,
100 canoas (deep waste bins) for trash collection in high-traffic areas,
22 mixed-recycling containers properly labeled,
11 used cooking oil recycling containers,
258 portable restrooms, including accessible units, with continuous maintenance. (See our guide to public restrooms at SanSe here)
Vendor visits: From Jan. 12 to 14, staff from the Oficina de Cumplimiento y Planificación Ambiental will visit all businesses in Old San Juan to provide guidance on handling recyclable materials and to distribute glass containers, recycling bags and waste collection schedules.
They will also visit all kiosks every morning to address proper handling of used cooking oil, waste and recycling.
🛎️ Stays in Old San Juan: Airbnb Guide
The Municipality of San Juan and Airbnb launched a Guest Safety Guide with official information, emergency numbers and recommendations for those staying in short-term rentals during the Fiestas.
ℹ️ Official information and communications
Within the Municipality of San Juan's website (sanjuan.pr), a special portal has been set up for the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián: fcss.sanjuan.pr. It contains maps, real-time notices and a photo gallery that will be updated daily.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
