The Govern's Emergency Plan Against Crime Shows Its First Cracks

Salvador Illa arrived at the Generalitat in August of last year with the promise of "bending the crime curve" in a reasonable time. Security has been one of his main tasks in this first year of the legislature. He announced a plan against knives and repeat offenses, and opened a new phase in Interior with the motto "who does it pays for it."

The Ministries of Interior and Justice are the pillars of the PSC's strategy to reduce the alarming figures of insecurity in Catalonia. But halfway through the first year of the legislature, their plans are showing the first cracks.

The Minister of Interior, Núria Parlon, ordered a more decisive action in areas such as criminal squatting, organized crime, and conventional criminality. One of the main concerns was the increase in stabbings. Her shock plan against knives showed its first results with the seizure of thousands of knives in special operations and large-scale raids.

Lack of Information in Interior

But new information reveals a worrying lack of data in Interior to address the problem of knives in Catalonia. The Minister of Interior has acknowledged before Vox's request in Parliament that her department doesn't have data on crimes recorded with knives. Parlon excuses herself by saying that the computer programs can't discern the data.

Moreover, El Món revealed last March that there is a collapse of the administrative services of Interior due to the large number of knives confiscated. There are 6,386 files stuck, which due to their quantity and complexity end up expiring.

The head of Interior acknowledges that the files do not allow discerning the crimes that have been committed with knives. When a crime is committed, the presence of a knife is recorded, but without determining if it was used or just seized. This prevents the creation of a reliable database for greater effectiveness of police actions.

This ignorance seriously compromises the shock plan announced with great fanfare by the PSC government. Added to this is the high economic cost of the plan, which has amounted to more than one million euros in the first six months.

Backlog in the Courts

The Ministry of Justice also recently received a cold shower from the judiciary. The senior judge of Barcelona, Cristina Farrando, lowered the initial euphoria about the construction of new courts to combat repeat offenses. She warned of the current judicial backlog, with 6,800 pending quick trials, which fuels the sense of impunity among criminals.

The central government, the Generalitat, and the Barcelona City Council announced an ambitious shock plan with the construction of 5 new courts.

The magistrate clarified that it is not about creating new courts but reinforcing the criminal courts to speed up quick trials. In any case, she already warned that it will not be enough because at best it will only unblock a third of these trials. Although new cases that come in can be attended to, the accumulated ones will have to be solved in the long term and it will take time.

The first cracks in the shock plan against insecurity coincide with an increase in squatting and homicides linked to organized crime. All these typologies require very specific action and are extremely complex.

Salvador Illa's government is fighting against these difficulties and against time. If it is not able to join the narrative with convincing data in a reasonable time, its promises will fade away. This would end up proving right parties like PP and Vox, who daily denounce the insecurity that citizens have to suffer in Catalonia.