The Mossos d'Esquadra have launched Pla Bastió in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat after crime rose by 10.1% in 2024 compared with the previous year. The operation was presented on Friday, 29 May, although it began quietly on 14 April.
The plan focuses first on robberies involving violence and intimidation, which police say have hit residents hard. L'Hospitalet, which borders Barcelona, is Catalonia's second-largest city and a major transport and business hub, so the rise has a direct impact on daily life across the area.
Intendent Miquel Hueso, deputy head of the Territorial Superior Police Station, and Intendent Sònia Rius, head of the Mossos station in L'Hospitalet, set out the plan's four main lines of work. These include local citizen security patrols, backed by central units and specialist teams.
The operation brings in officers from the Metropolitan South Police Region, with support from the Barcelona region too. Public order units and plainclothes patrols are also involved, working in a coordinated way each day to keep pressure on offenders and increase police visibility in the streets.
Police said the first month of the plan has already led to more identifications in so-called hot spots, as well as arrests of repeat offenders active in the area. They also said the operation has helped contain violent crime, although the enhanced presence will continue for several months.
The Mossos say the aim is to make criminals lose their comfort zone in neighbourhoods across the city, including peripheral and commercial areas. For Barcelona readers, the wider message is clear, police are keeping a close watch on crime patterns in the metro area, with L'Hospitalet now under a stronger and longer-running operation.
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Originally published by Metrópoli Abierta - Urban Life. Read original article.
