The Government will modify the last decree on the Mossos to rewrite controversial points

2023-12-18 21:31:58

BarcelonaThe restructuring decree of the Mossos d’Esquadra, one of the most important rules that the Government has approved in recent times on the Catalan police, will be modified by the same executive to rewrite some points that were on the day of its approval, in March this year, they generated controversy between unions and parliamentary groups. The Department of the Interior and the Mossos had been working on this decree for a year, which creates a new organizational chart that must guide the Catalan body in the coming decade. The controversy, above all, centered on one point: passing the jurisdiction of wiretapping ordered by a judge during a criminal investigation to a new general commissioner of information and communication technologies (ICT). In other words, the scouts no longer depend on the investigators themselves, but on another unit of the body. “This is sticking your nose into criminal investigations,” denounced then the deputy of the parliamentary group Socialists and United for Progress Ramon Espadaler.

Well, according to sources consulted by the ARA, the Department of the Interior has opened up to modifying this point. According to a letter from the director of the police, Pere Ferrer, to which this newspaper has had access, it will be rewritten to “avoid misunderstandings and further damage”. The reform, however, will not be to return this competence to Criminal Investigation, but will remain in the new TIC general police station. However, a sentence will be included that makes it clear that these officers will also act “as judicial police”. With this addition, we want to shield the fact that even if these officers are not from the judicial police unit that is investigating the case, they will act as such. Sources close to the elaboration of the decree point out that the change of competences is a purely organizational move and that the technicians who do the scouting will not change. Simply, the same sources point out, they will depend on a police station that is designed to gather all the telecommunications of the police.

This move by the Government will take effect in the coming days and is given by a proposal to reform the text made by the parliamentary group Socialists and United for Progress. The Department of the Interior opened a working table with trade unions and political parties after a PSC-Units motion was passed in Parliament (all parties voted in favour) calling for it. All in the face of the controversy that the rule had. In the summer, a meeting was already held and this Monday there was another one. The executive, as has happened in the case of wiretapping, has accepted some of the improvements proposed by parties and unions. When this process ends, it will be necessary to approve a modification of the Government’s decree.

Recognition of the figure of the major

Another aspect that generated controversy is that the figure of the Mossos major, the highest rank of the force, was not included in the decree. Yes, it is in the law that regulates the body of the Catalan police, and that is why at the time the drafters of the decree did not consider it essential. Be that as it may, this generated controversy, even more so considering that we were coming from the dismissal of the Major of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, as head of the police. A move that several sectors of the Mossos saw as an attempt by the political leadership to have more capacity to influence the body. Well, now, according to ARA, the Government has also agreed, again at the request of the Espadaler group, to include the figure of the major in the new restructuring decree.

These are the two main moves that the Catalan executive has accepted. In all cases, these are surgical measures and not major changes to the decree itself. For example, they have also agreed to unite the areas of Mediation and Dialogue that were initially separated by the decree and finally create a single Office of Communication. It is also planned that the Interior will accept some proposals made by the police unions and other political parties in recent days.