The Local Security Board of Calella (Maresme), with the presence of the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, and the general director of the Mossos, Pere Ferrer, served yesterday to corroborate what the mayor, Marc Buch, has been calling for for some time. In 2023 there has been an increase in criminal activity of 20%, which far exceeds the Catalan average. Hence, the police leadership of Catalonia committed to provisionally maintaining the reinforcement of the Arro and Brimo units which, according to the mayor, “allow the release of the Local Police and Mossos agents stationed in the territory.”
The Calella Local Security Board, which had a large representation of the security forces (National Police, Civil Guard and Mossos d’Esquadra), served to relax relations between the Interior and the City Council, after the controversies that arose over the demand to increase the number of Catalan police in Alt Maresme. A controversy that moved to the political arena by suggesting the expulsion of multi-repeat foreigners.
Regarding the group of 11 repeat offenders from Calella, who are made up of formerly supervised youth who were left out of the social circuit of the Generalitat when they turned 18, it was confirmed that eight of them are in provisional prison. However, criminal activity in Calella has not decreased, as evidenced by the 2023 police statistics. Last year in the municipality there was a 20% increase in crimes, of which 40% were scams. Another figure that has skyrocketed and that generates a great perception of insecurity are thefts, which in Calella increased by 34%, while robberies with violence and intimidation rose by 7%. Some figures that led the mayor to start the Interior’s commitment to maintain the special operation with Arro and Brimo teams sent to the territory as reinforcement. “With these support units, the local police are freed up and can improve their performance,” said the mayor, Marc Buch. In this sense, the figures indicate that 59% of the arrests, 324 during 2023, were carried out by the local police.
The councilor promised to reinforce the number of police officers in the Basic Police Area of ??Arenys de Mar, to which Calella and the Pineda de Mar police station belong. Yesterday he did not want to venture the number of troops that will be assigned “because other mayors would demand the same and we do not know who will pass the police school”, where the latest promotion amounts to 870 officers.
Both the mayor and the councilor agreed yesterday to highlight that the problem of multiple recidivism is difficult to resolve due to the poor functioning of the administration of justice. “Judges cannot know if a detainee is a repeat offender because the system does not work.” Hence, they unify the demand to demand that the judiciary have more resources and, if necessary, modify the Penal Code to tax this type of crimes. He also favored the Prosecutor’s Office, for example, in the case of Calella, to demand prison sentences.
