The two main proposals that were in the genesis, not without controversy, of the commission on the police model in Parliament, at the request of the CUP, have fallen resoundingly. The possibility of creating an external control and evaluation mechanism that evaluates police actions, with the possibility that its resolutions would be binding, as the Interior Minister Joan Ignasi Elena intended, and the proposal to eliminate the so-called foam bullets.
The two proposals, defended in one way or another by ERC, in Comú Podem and the CUP, have run into opposition from PSC, Junts, Ciutadans and Vox, who have clamped down to knock them down. In addition, the three driving groups have not managed to carve out a clear minimum agreement to make their proposals prosper in both areas.
In this way, the result of the voting on the conclusions of the police model commission confirms the failure of the objectives of the CUP, which with its agreement with ERC for the investiture of Pere Aragonès managed to launch the parliamentary commission with the purpose of reviewing the current police model; eliminate the riot control units (Brimo and Arro); ban Tasers and foam projectiles, which are used by these units in demonstrations with major riots, and create an external control body to oversee all Mossos actions and issue binding opinions.
ERC has not agreed to vote in favor of the proposals of the CUP and the commons in some cases or their votes have not added enough to prevail over the PSC and Junts clamp. This is the case of the external control mechanism, raised, each with its nuances, by ERC, CUP and common.
On this external authority, ERC proposed that police practice be evaluated by an “external and independent control mechanism” that would have the last word in reviewing cases of malpractice, issuing the corresponding binding report. The commons added the need for it to have the ability to access all the information and police resources to carry out its inspection work and the CUP demanded that it be put into operation within a period of two months and provide it with a sufficient budget.
Finally, none of these proposals has gone ahead. Neither is the idea of ??Junts to create a parliamentary subcommittee that is in charge of carrying out this inspection task without the power that the ERC, CUP and commons claimed; not even the specific proposal of the PSC for it to be the Sindicatura de Greuges, -which already exercises control ex officio or at the request of complaints, within the framework of its powers- to create a specialized unit that deals with this control.
Within the framework of police tools, it is worth highlighting the fact that the proposals to eliminate foam bullets, as the CUP, Junts and comunes intended, have not prospered either. ERC, and PSC have prevented it. Although the Republicans are in favor of reviewing the regulation and use of certain weapons that have been shown to be potentially dangerous, they did not raise in their conclusions the elimination of the so-called foam bullets, which have come to replace the rubber bullets prohibited by law. Parliament in 2013.
In this case, Junts was in favor of its prohibition and has finally managed to carry out a transaction with the commons, a proposal that obtained the votes of the CUP and the abstention of the ERC that calls for “urgent withdrawal of the most harmful foam projectiles”. the SIR-X, and simply “study replacing the use of foam bullets with other equally effective and potentially less dangerous means.” The same proposal also requires “prohibiting techniques such as the carousel and any other potentially dangerous for the safety of the protesters” and incorporating new technologies to geolocate and record police actions.
The Republicans justified their position regarding the maintenance of foam bullets graphically at the end of the commission: “Is that the alternative, what is the water cannons?”
The intervention of the deputy of the commons, Marc Parés, summarizes well what happened. The deputy regretted the “lack of courage” -of ERC- in both matters. “It is very easy to say that we want a democratic police force, but that requires specifics and we have not been brave enough.” Parés has indicated that “there were two major issues”, in reference to the external control mechanism and the prohibition of foam bullets, but he evidenced his “disappointment for not having reached an agreement”. Even so, the deputy called on the rest of the groups to “think about it” before voting on “something so basic to have a more democratic and modern police force.”
On the other hand, the Socialists did not hide their satisfaction with the result of the voting and consider that it constitutes a clear message to the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena. The deputy of the PSC-Units, Ramon Espadaler, pointed in this regard on social networks, recalling that just a few days ago they carried out their parliamentary disapproval with Junts. “The balance of the study commission of the police model should make Minister Elena reflect. The rejection of the creation of an external control body of the Mossos that he proposed hand in hand with the CUP and En Comú Podem is a new disapproval of his actions ”.
