The specialized bodies of the Catalan police are neither squires nor ferrets. They are a mixed group of motorized agents made up of Mossos d’Esquadra and local Mataró police, whose actions attract a lot of attention because the statistics of arrests and actions in the “hot areas” of Mataró are skyrocketing. Since February 1, they have made 80 arrests and 549 interventions of various kinds.
“We received a warning about an individual who is causing problems in the Rocafonda neighborhood.” Albert Boltas, the corporal coordinator of the Community Police of the Basic Police Area (ABP) of the Mossos de Mataró, addresses the motorized officers in the briefing before patrolling. The fact of traveling on motorcycles allows them to reach the place quickly and distribute the cash through the accesses until the offender is trapped, with no way out. He is a habitual drunken criminal, who has threatened the customers of a bar and from the headquarters they confirm that he has violated a restraining order, for which he is arrested.
There are two local police officers on the scene with two brand new and powerful electric motorcycles, which contrast with the Mossos, which are much older, some from 2008. Precisely one of these machines has problems with the engine start and the agent must push it to a downhill street.
“At the moment they are motorcycles loaned from other police services”, says Inspector Josep Maria Cavallé, head of the Basic Police Area (ABP). “The official allocation has been requested, which is pending validation”. It is an outdated material that still gives a great performance. With what they have, they have set up two shifts with a minimum of three agents.
The motorized policemen, who have not yet been assigned their own code, in 135 days of patrolling have made 488 acts of intervention (drugs) and confiscated 61 weapons and even Taser pistols. They have arrested 36 multi-recidivists with pending cases and 44 for public health crimes, breach of sentence, violent robberies and even battery of home burglars traveling by train.
Although it is not possible to attribute all the credit to the mixed motorized patrols, it is no less true that since the beginning of the year the activity at the police station has increased by 30% in the number of identifications, by 15% in arrests and a 100% in complaints by law 4/2015 (weapons and drugs).
“We go to hot spots, high-intensity spaces where an increase in criminal activity is detected,” explains Boltas. For example, the Renfe station area, where they do selective identification. They analyze the heat maps of theft and theft complaints, intensify patrolling and interact with neighbors and traders to directly affect the points of greatest conflict.
They have no name, no nickname. “We are a directed patrol group” of volunteer agents, chosen “with a very defined profile” that is already known among the neighbors as “the scourge of thieves”. A pilot test that has attracted the attention of the authorities and that will be able to lower the crime rate in Mataró, which exceeds 6,200 criminal offenses since the beginning of the year.
