The Baix Empordà town councils have taken a stand against repeat offenders, asking that existing regulations be firmly applied and that, where appropriate, the laws be toughened. The objective is to ensure that these thieves end up in prison when the security forces arrest them.
“It can’t be that they take less time to leave than the police themselves,” laments the Bisbal Security Councilor, Xavier Dilmé, who has met with a dozen other councilors from municipalities in the region who share this problem.
The Councilor for Security of Calonge i Sant Antoni, Alberto Mas, is committed to resolving this “impunity” with greater investment in security by the Generalitat and the application of the laws by justice.
A dozen municipalities with local police and Baix Empordà security forces met this Monday to address the social alarm in the region as a result of repeat offenders. The Councilor for Citizen Security of Bisbal de Empordà, Xavier Dilmé, has assured that the territory “is suffering a wave of thefts and robberies” and in many cases the perpetrators are criminals “who have accumulated 50 and 60 criminal records.”
Dilmé criticizes that the thieves act “with absolute impunity” and this generates unrest among the residents of the municipality. “People are running out of patience,” added the Bisbal councilor.
The town of Forallac is in a similar situation. In this case, the mayor recalled that this last night five houses in the municipality were broken into. “They come in left and right, they hook them and the next day they release them,” said Josep Sala.
That is why the municipalities ask that judges and prosecutors “apply the law.” Dilmé assures that “perhaps some laws will have to be changed,” but mainly they want a commitment that magistrates and prosecutors “apply existing measures” so that criminals do not leave once they are arrested. This sentiment is shared by the Councilor for Security of Calonge and Sant Antoni, Alberto Mas, who states that “the laws are what they are but they must be applied.”
Mas recalled the economic effort that the region’s town councils have made to strengthen local security forces. In this sense, in the case of Calonge i Sant Antoni, the staff of the Local Police has been reinforced by 20% in the last term. In addition, each year they have invested between 5% and 10% more in body material. Now, he asks that this effort made by the councils be transferred to the Generalitat with the Mossos d’Esquadra body.
“The Sant Feliu de Guíxols police station has had the same patrols for five years,” says the councillor. His counterpart in Bisbal de Empordà agrees with Mas on the economic effort involved in reinforcing the police at the local level. “We dedicate ourselves body and soul to building safer towns and cities” which is why they criticize that the justice response is not “adequate.” As an example, the Local Police of Bisbal de Empordà has recorded 78 thefts and 100 robberies in 2023. However, there are only 64 complaints.
