The General Director of the Police, Pere Ferrer, is committed to technology as the best weapon to control and guarantee police work in all its areas, also in what refers to the control of public order and citizen security. For this reason, he has assured that the objective of the Government is to provide the Mossos d’Esquadra with as many single-person cameras as possible, until all agents wear one on their uniform.
Currently, the Mossos have distributed 150 cameras among operational groups and shift managers, which, together with the investment in computer and telecommunications equipment, has made it possible to improve the traceability of police interventions, but the Ministry’s plan that directed by Joan Ignasi Elena is to incorporate, in the long term, these devices for all the agents of the body.
According to Ferrer, it is about influencing the “proactive search for innovative tools to guarantee the distance model” on which the public order actions of the Mossos are based in the face of mass demonstrations, with the aim of avoiding violence. In fact, this search is still trying to find a solution for the incorporation of cameras in foam projectile launchers, a method that is being questioned in the parliamentary committee, and although a satisfactory solution has not yet been found in the market, the director general of the police bets on more personal cameras.
“Cameras, cameras and more cameras; budget, budget and budget”, Ferrer has graphically summed up in his appearance before Parliament to account for Parliament’s resolution 476/X, of 2013, which decreed the elimination of rubber bullets and was committed to incorporating means of control over police actions.
In any case, the head of the Interior has not defined a time horizon for the incorporation of these cameras, although he has commented that it will not be achieved “neither in one year nor in two”, but has positively assessed the degree of compliance with the parliamentary resolution that in addition to eliminating rubber projectiles, urges to “guarantee the availability of robust tools that allow a range of differentiated tactical options”.
In this sense, Ferrer has pointed out that in his opinion, the Mossos have to equip themselves with tools against violence, although he has asked “not to use the police politically”. The leader has reiterated that the ministry and the body will obey the guidelines decided in Parliament through the commission of the police model, and he has lamented “all the injuries that have occurred.” “The police officers who participate in operations also regret it,” he remarked.
But it has not gotten wet about whether these projectiles should continue to be used by the Mossos, as the heads of Arro and Brimo have assured in previous appearances. Ferrer has emphasized the “corrective measures” and the “improvement mechanisms” that have been carried out as a result of the protests following the sentence of the procés trial, and that “they continue to bet on intelligence, which allows anticipation and efficient decision-making”, and for the incorporation of new technologies.
“It is a path that we have to travel”, he insisted, after highlighting the benefits that have been achieved with the TETRA geolocation system, with the renewal of the mobile fleet that incorporates cameras, the inclusion of the NOP (police operational number) in the uniforms of riot control agents, or the use of drones.
“All these technological improvements have meant that in just three years the management of public order decisions has greatly improved,” said Ferrer, who has quantified the total economic investment at 10 million euros since 2019.
In addition, he has defended the work of the Brimo and Arro units, ensuring that most of their working hours are not dedicated to public order work, but to other work related to citizen security. According to Ferrer, only 10 or 12% of the 250,000 hours that Brimo worked between January and August of this 2022 were dedicated to specific public order work; some 120,000, 48%, were support tasks such as moving people, surveillance of buildings or traffic devices, and 40%, some 100,000 hours, were citizen security. In the case of the Arro, the distribution of times it was similar.
In this sense, the director of the police has emphasized the need to cultivate versatility in the body, so that law enforcement officers carry out citizen security tasks and vice versa. “Versatility must be bidirectional” and “I see it as an asset”
Ferrer, who remains in the Department of the Interior despite being a member of the Government, has appeared in the Parliament’s commission unlike the former Secretary General of the Interior, Oriol Amoròs (ERC), who has changed the ministry of Joan Ignasi Elena for the job of Roger Torrent after the departure of Junts del Government and has been replaced in the position by Tamara García.
