The Government will approve this Tuesday the decree for the restructuring of the General Directorate of the Police. A document that regulates the new structure of the Mossos d’Esquadra. A project that was already started by the previous chief curator, Josep María Estela, and to which Eduard Sallent has put an end. A structure that should serve to define what the police should be like and specify their functions. Beyond the growth of the entire command structure, which is evidently multiplying, a couple of elements stand out. The wiretapping system that until now was under the umbrella of the general police station of the judicial police now depends on one of the new police stations, that of information and communication technologies.
This change of guardianship in the system of wiretaps, which are the punctures that the police carry out in the framework of an investigation and always with judicial authorization, was not in the first draft of the decree. Precisely this Monday afternoon, the headquarters, with Sallent in charge, celebrates in the auditorium of the central police complex of Egara, in Sabadell, a day to explain the project to the controls.
The decree has circulated in recent days, therefore whoever has been interested has been able to read it. In fact, there are commanders who warn of the risks of this change of guardianship of the telephone taps that come out of the shield of the judicial police to go to this new information and communication technology police station that will assume responsibility for all systems and technologies with which the police work. This transfer will imply that secret court records may be shared by more people. The argument given by those responsible for the new decree is that, despite the fact that the judicial police request practically 95% of wiretaps, the internal affairs division (which now becomes a police station) or information in their investigations also work with wiretaps . Hence, as it is a transversal service, it is assumed by a police station that provides service to the entire body, but which will receive judicial orders that are part, on many occasions, of secret proceedings.
The decree, beyond these new police stations and areas that we will specify later, determines in writing that those responsible for decentralized services, for example, and in fact it is intended primarily for the heads of criminal investigation areas, “must inform the highest regional commanders, directly and in the manner they deem most appropriate, of the most relevant facts or investigations related to their activity”.
It is true that this point starts with the warning that unless legally prevented by a judge. But, in any case, it is in writing that the heads of investigation have to inform the head of the region of what they are doing, in case they are asked.
There is another element that stands out as soon as you start reading the 132 pages of the new decree and it is the way in which the general direction of the police grows. There is still a politician at the helm, currently Pere Ferrer, who has actively participated in the decree, and who sees how his general management is becoming a macro structure with a cabinet, the police headquarters, the general police station for institutional relations, prevention and mediation, which it already had, and internal affairs and inspection and analysis, which went from division to general police station.
We must add the sub-directors of administration and service and human resources, which some commanders defended that they should be transferred to the operational part of the body, but which remain under the political baton of the director.
To the nine territorial regions is added a tenth virtual police region. The citizen security police station is also created, which is to promote and unify the work at street level of the patrols, in addition to promoting and improving everything that has to do with victim assistance.
In short, a new decree that, far from simplifying the organization chart, increases it to the point that its implementation will require 309 managers, including commissioners, mayors, inspectors and deputy inspectors. Making numbers, 109 more than there are now.
