The maritime police of the Mossos d'Esquadra will intensify preventive patrolling this year along the entire Catalan coast with the incorporation of two new boats and another three semi-rigid boats from seizures, and with the forecast of a new call for places to give a "quick response" to any incident. The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, presented the summer plan for the maritime police of the Mossos d'Esquadra at an event held in the port of Barcelona.
In 2022, the maritime area of the Mossos, which includes the aquatic unit, carried out more than 3,750 hours of patrolling by boat along the entire Catalan coast, of which 285 hours were in maritime natural spaces. It attended some 250 services, such as guaranteeing the security of events, inspections or aid and assistance to citizens. In addition, 2,125 hours of surveillance were carried out in ports and 720 hours on beaches.
The maritime police plans to incorporate into its fleet before the end of the year two new vessels of 11 and 13 meters in length, respectively, which come from the Department of Climate Action, as well as three other semi-rigids, seized by the courts and which are currently in the evaluation phase by engineers in order to make the appropriate adaptations.
A new call for positions is also planned before the end of the year to increase the number of Mossos troops in the maritime field with the aim of opening a new base in the port of Barcelona and reinforcing existing ones. Currently, this service has 48 troops, 32 correspond to the maritime police and 16 are specialized in underwater work, as well as three boats that were acquired in 2021, with another two inflatables for work in shallow water, two semi-rigid patrol boats and a jet ski from a seizure.
The maritime police focuses its strategy on proximity, prevention, service to citizens and assistance in the maritime environment, to resolve any incident on the nearly 500 kilometers of the Catalan coastline. Among its functions are citizen security at sea, surveillance of navigation and events at sea, public order, surveillance of port infrastructures and nautical facilities, maritime rescue or control of activities such as fishing and environmental protection. In addition, it works as judicial police and administrative police.
