The device of joint patrols of the Local Police and Mossos d'Esquadra in Mataró (Maresme) aimed at ending criminal recidivism has led to the arrest of six people with pending legal requirements. Information issued by the Local Security Board held at the Mataró City Council, chaired by the mayor David Bote, and which was attended by the sub-delegate of the Government in Barcelona, Carlos Prieto; the General Director of Mossos, Pere Ferrer, and the General Director of Security Administration, Sònia Andolz.
During the first four weeks of operation of this joint device, the mixed patrols have carried out 500 preventive identifications that have led to the arrest of these six people who had pending court orders; 90 interventions of narcotic substances and 10 of objects considered dangerous (baseball bats, brass knuckles, bladed weapons...). These confiscations have been accompanied by the corresponding administrative complaints.
The joint patrols are made up of four motorized agents, two from the Local Police and two from the Mossos d'Esquadra. These are preventive operations that work intensively on public spaces, focusing on locating people with a criminal profile. The mayor, David Bote, assured that "we have seen a decrease in occupation crimes" thanks to the increase in police pressure.
In addition to this device, the collaboration of the different police forces is also carried out with various interpolice operations in which the Local Police, Mossos d'Esquadra and National Police take part. Within the framework of these devices, throughout 2022, 44 inspections and 279 identifications have been carried out, which have led to 31 arrests for non-compliance with the Immigration Law and 6 for pending court orders; 13 complaints for drug possession and 3 for possession of weapons.
The director of Mossos, Pere Ferrer, has pointed out as a differentiating element "the good collaboration of the security forces to combat multiple recidivism and occupations" which has led to a general decrease in crime in general in the capital of Maresme. For his part, the Inspector in Cap of the Mossos Police Station in Mataró, Josep Maria Cavallé, has detailed that habitual criminals are people with few resources who have a history of all kinds of criminal offenses "they are opportunistic, both stealing from a vehicle, com in a home" a criminal activity with minor penalties that does not entail imprisonment.
Added to these operational tools is the problem-solving analysis work of the Local Police's Citizenship and Coexistence Unit (UCC), which focuses its work on addressing and solving security problems that require a planned and specialized intervention. . These agents act as interlocutors with the social and cultural fabric of the neighbourhoods, and also liaise with the City Council services to guarantee a coordinated and comprehensive response in those cases in which the action of different municipal departments is necessary.
The Local Security Board has also certified the downward trend in property usurpations in the city in the second half of last year. During 2022, 385 criminal complaints for jobs have been registered (the majority were filed between January and June, and only 32% have been filed in the last six months). Over the past year, the Local Police managed to thwart 192 usurpations, thanks largely to the collaboration of the public in detecting and denouncing these events.
Mataró began the fight against the occupations in 2016 and since then work has been done at a political and technical level to find solutions to this problem that generates insecurity and breaks coexistence in the city. Among the tools that have made it possible to reverse the upward trend in occupations is the preventive work carried out by the Local Police's Civic and Coexistence Unit (UCC) to ensure that the owners of empty properties protect them by installing an alarm and armored door ; the holding of immediate criminal proceedings that contemplate eviction as a precautionary measure (they can be carried out if the property has denounced the usurpation and all parties are identified); and the application of the municipal protocol that allows the administrative eviction of the property to be decreed in those cases in which an energy, health or structural risk is detected (this protocol has allowed the eviction of 105 properties - flats, houses, premises, industrial and solar buildings - since 2020 ).
Regarding politics, the last steps that have been taken have been the claim of the municipalities of the Arc Metropolità, which make up the cities of the second metropolitan crown, to the groups of the Congress, to whom they asked for the support of the future Law that it must allow the eviction of a home in 48 hours, and the approval by the Board of Spokespersons of an institutional Declaration to request more tools to fight against jobs.
Today the Local Security Board has also been informed that the contract for the installation of the cameras on public roads provided for in the Video Surveillance Master Plan has already been awarded, with the aim of improving effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability in the management of public safety and traffic.
