Trapero: "In 2017 everyone could have done better, starting with me."

SabadellThe first words of major Josep Lluís Trapero on his return as head of the Mossos have been for self-criticism. "Everyone could have done better, starting with me" said Trapero, without actually explicitly referring to the independence bid. Instead, the major spoke of "those moments in 2017". Trapero said that he had already taken the blame for the areas where he thought he had made a mistake in the trials at the Supreme Court and the High Court. "My defence of the corps was not well understood," he added. The major also said that he has taken advantage of the last three years in which he stopped being head of the body to "grow as a person", which he considered "can help [him] improve professionally".

Trapero explained that before making the decision to return to lead the Mossos he resolved the doubts he had with the Minister of the Home Affairs, Miquel Sàmper, as well as with his family on a personal level. The conclusion was: "This body is part of my life. I have a lot to do". As for the doubts he had with Sàmper, the major focused on the relationship between the police and politics. "What happened and the [Supreme Court] ruling has helped us to define this relation", argued Trapero, who spoke of depending on the government, the autonomy of the police force in the technical field and its dependence, as a judicial police, on the judicial authority and the Public Prosecutor's Office. "Now it is even clearer. We both agreed quickly", he defended.

The major explained that this morning he contacted the heads of the Guardia Civil and the National Police in Catalonia, as well as the deputy directors of operations of the two bodies in Madrid. "I have found the best of answers," said Trapero, who wanted to erase the distances of the past. "I have no problem with any of the people in the professional field. They will not find in me a different attitude from the one I have expressed to them", he said. He also thanked "clearly, plainly and sincerely" the commissioners who have led the Mossos over the last three years: in chronological order, Ferran López, Miquel Esquius and Eduard Sallent, until yesterday head of the corps. "Thanks to them, we have regained some of the trust that some institutions and society may have lost," he said.

No decision on promotions

Trapero said he would work to improve this institutional confidence, which he felt had already been restored: "I will try my best". As far as the police leadership is concerned, the major said that he has not yet had time to define the structure he wants to promote, although he made it clear that the last three chiefs of the force, together with Commissioner Joan Carles Molinero, who was one of his right-hand men, "will have a place in the structure where their potential can be harnessed. Trapero added that the priorities of the Mossos will be terrorism, deepening and improving the role of the police in the social sphere and recovering projects from his previous stint which were at an advanced stage but have not been completed.