Interior councillor Núria Parlon pledged an average increase of 1,500 new Mossos d’Esquadra officers per year on Wednesday. She made the commitment whilst responding to PP deputy Alberto Villagrasa’s question about Catalunya’s security situation in parliament.
Parlon explained the Mossos strategic plan includes 44% staff growth in basic investigation and 52% in advanced investigation. Traffic units will also get reinforced because, she says, there’s “more vulnerability on the roads”. The previous government agreed to reach 22,000 officers, but now the target is 25,000. “This is an effort. We’re not fabricating this, it’s a country-wide effort,” she stressed.
Responding to Villagrasa, who cited several crime cases, Parlon insisted Catalunya is “a reasonably safe country”. She pointed out that distorting reality can lead to wrong conclusions. Meanwhile, she highlighted improvements in crime figures: “I think these should be kept in mind, because they might be modest, but there’s a lot of effort behind them.”
The councillor identified two main security objectives: reducing the crime curve and cutting people’s sense of insecurity. To achieve this, she said, “we need more officers for more community policing” and more preventive policy to improve security perceptions.
Parlon also mentioned creating the Justice and Security Committee as “a strategic tool that lets us deploy and work together with the justice councillor’s office”. This aims to deter crime, gain efficiency and secure convictions for repeat offenders. She defended the work being done, though it “will start showing results” but requires time and cooperation.
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