Two weeks ago, the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, received the Mossos d'Esquadra commissioner, Montserrat Estruch, the new head of the Catalan police in the capital, in his office. The presentation was carried out by chief commissioner Eduard Sallent, who assured the mayor that he had opted for one of his best commanders to face the new stage, in which the arrival at the end of August of 222 recently released police officers has already advanced. from school.
The police reinforcement arrives at a crucial moment. Statistics show a relentless increase in criminal activity. In general terms, crimes rose almost 14% in relation to the first half of last year. And although the political leaders insist on continuing to compare the figures with 2019 and emphasize that those figures have not been reached, the truth is that both the municipal scale and the victimization survey show that the Barcelonan continues to point to insecurity as the main problem.
Estruch and the mayor of the Guardia Urbana, Pedro Velázquez, led this Jewish police representation in the Security Council of Barcelona, with the presence of the Prosecutor's Office, the judiciary, the National Police and the Civil Guard.
The review of the figures for this 2023 once again places theft as the star crime in the city. In fact, it represents 49.2% of all reported crimes. They have gone from 42,772 to 50,116. Or what is the same, every day 275 thefts are reported in the city. Every five minutes a theft occurs in Barcelona, and a very high percentage have Ciutat Vella and the Eixample as scenarios. Wallets, phones, bags and even computers are the most stolen items.
Judges and prosecutors explained that it is still early to see the consequences of the entry into force of the latest reform of the Penal Code in terms of recidivism. And the Deputy Mayor for Security, Albert Batlle, appealed to this reform to raise the flag that more legislative reforms are needed to provide judges with "more effective" instruments against certain crimes, referring, for example, to the issue related to marijuana, which had a point of the day during the meeting.
The Security Board, chaired by Collboni and with the presence of the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, among others, made it clear that without institutional loyalty and operational coordination on the street of all the uniformed officers, it is impossible to work in the face of the complexity of the Barcelona reality.
Commissioner Estruch assured, as police director Pere Ferrer did later at a press conference, that Interior is committed to the security of the city, and hence the creation of new divisions and the reinforcement of areas such as investigation, which will help to improve safety and prevention.
The appointment served to specify the decentralization plan for detainees that La Vanguardia has already advanced, with the entry into operation of the cells of the Ciutat Vella police station, on September 1.
As for crimes, practically everything goes up, but especially thefts, frauds and, timidly, robberies with violence, although it is one of the crimes that produces the most anguish. Of course, the note after the meeting warns that of the approximately 6,739 victims who suffered a violent robbery this first half of the year, only 2% suffered an injury; the rest, or nothing, or very slight.
During the first six months of 2023, 315 multiple repeat offenders have been detected, of whom 269 have been arrested 1,629 times and charged with 4,065 crimes. This group includes the five considered most active: they have been arrested 112 times and accumulate 203 records. All five are free.
Last week, those responsible for the general criminal investigation police station already gave the figures related to sexual violence in Catalonia, skyrocketing. The city of Barcelona is no exception. They rise 27.4 percent in the last semester, recording 525 complaints of sexual assault in six months. Of course, both Estruch and Velázquez assured that the so-called safe routes work, and in these monitored and illuminated corridors the complaints have decreased.
Those responsible for the Urban Police, specifically the Security manager, Maite Casado, presented the results of the new office for complaints of gender violence opened in the offices of the Urban Police in Nou Barris, as well as the imminent opening of another similar office in the Rambla police station. Two spaces designed with the sole criteria of providing well-being and confidence to victims who dare to cross the threshold of a police station to denounce the hell they suffer.
