13,500 new agents in eight years: the impossible mission of the Mossos

BarcelonaFirst there were some 22,000 Mossos d'Esquadra agents agreed between the Ministry of the Interior led by Joan Ignasi Elena and the Spanish government with an eye on 2030. After this figure rose to 25,000 Following the last meeting of the Bilateral Commission State-Generalitat, with the government of Salvador Illa and the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon; and finally it has been The immigration agreement sealed between Junts and the PSOE, which in the bill establishes that the number of Mossos d'Esquadra agents in 2032, following the assumption of new powers, must be 26,800 agents. This is an exceptional growth: if the retirements expected in the force are taken into account (between 600 and 800 per year from now on), there should be a net increase of more than 13,500 police officers in eight years. This represents 70% of the current number of agents in the force, which has 19,200. The mission, according to all the sources consulted by the ARA, can be described as impossible. Or, for the most optimistic, hardly viable or complex.

We are going hand in hand. Starting in 2019, with the Minister of the Interior, Miquel Buch, a call for 450 agents and two more for 750 police officers was made because after years of cuts there was still room to reach the 18,267 police officers agreed in 2006. In 2021, and with the Director of Police, Pere Ferrer, they agreed with the Ministry of the Interior of Fernando Grande-Marlaska, two things: on the one hand, that the Mossos can retire at the age of 60, putting them on par with the National Police and the Civil Guard; and on the other, to progressively increase the staff to 22,000 police officers.

According to sources familiar with the pact, the two measures were agreed upon taking into account, twenty years in advance, the number of agents who could be assigned to operational activity (street work) and to the second activity (office): if the two agreements had not been activated in parallel, they would ensure the same number of days of street work age. Thus, in parallel with the retirements, calls for new agents were launched, with the idea of attracting younger staff, 850 agents in 2024 and 1,300 in 2025, which is still ongoing.

Calls that, if one takes into account the stagnation of public employment following the years of crisis, were generous. However, these processes have shown a new handicap, especially if the horizon is to offer new positions: not all have been filled. That is to say, there have been applicants who have not reached the level and have been left by the wayside. In the last one, for example, which had 850 places, 760 candidates ended up entering the police academy. Once in the Institute of Public Security of Catalonia (ISPC), however, several more future agents usually fail, a figure that usually reaches 10%. There is currently an ongoing opposition with 1,300 places to which 12,500 people have applied. Predictably, when this ends, another one will be called (this year) with a similar or greater number of places.

A "challenge"

The superintendent, Roser Talaveron, head of the Professional Development Division of the Mossos, speaks of a "challenge" when referring to the new ceiling of agents and the pace of examinations that will be necessary to reach them. However, she assures that the requirements must be maintained and in no case lowered so that more people can enter. "We must manage to reach everyone," she says, and gives as an example the campaign (and reservation of places) so that more women would apply to be mossa. Now they represent 36% of the applications. However, the superintendent makes it clear that the ISPC is prepared to take on this higher pace of applicants. In this sense, sources from the ministry also speak of a challenge and point out the importance of reaching new groups. For this reason, the work of propaganda and the presence of the Mossos in the markets and employment workshops will be intensified. One area in which, they point out, they are not managing to reach much is that of people of foreign origin.

Mossos commanders consulted by the ARA are also not optimistic about achieving the new ceiling of agents within the expected time frame. The most repeated word is that it is complicated. And they warn that in no case can the requirements be lowered and that care must be taken when "opening the filter". At the same time, they warn that the wind does not always blow in favor of achieving body growth, and that when this happens, it must be taken advantage of. The unions are also concerned. Fepol also uses the word complicated and they warn that police stations will also have to be updated, because some are already too small. USPAC is even more forceful and assures that reaching the new ceiling in the set years is not a "real" aspiration. "We are afraid that the requirements will be lowered," they point out, and add that the IPSC is already too small. Both unions warn of the effect of retirements, of second activities, but also of the flight of mossos to local police forces to obtain better economic conditions.

Mass production of police officers

With the first meeting of the Bilateral Commission of Salvador Illa's government, the Catalan and Spanish executives agreed to increase the staff to 25,000 agents and, in addition, introduced a timetable: in 2030. The justification is that, with the increase in population, more agents are needed. And with the Junts-PSOE agreement, with the argument of assuming the new powers, another 1,800 agents were added in 2032. "It seems to be done by weight," says a good connoisseur of the Catalan police referring to both the PSC and Junts pact, pointing out the difficulty of growing at this rate. Not only because of the magnitude of the calls, but also because of the experience of the last ones (they have not been filled) and the prospect of retirements.

According to data collected by the ARA through various sources, from 2027 there will be an average of 600 retirements each year until 2030. A figure to which must be added about 100 losses on average per year for other reasons. Therefore, in order to gain staff, and not just compensate for these losses that have to do with generational issues, the Department of the Interior would have to call for 1,800 positions each year until 2030. Only in this way would it reach approximately 25,000 agents on staff. But the challenge does not end here: if we add the new figure, established in the organic law proposal that delegates powers in matters of immigration to the Generalitat, of 26,800 agents in 2032, the production of agents should rise even more, since from 2030 onwards there will be 0 00 more in 2032. This means that, after three years of issuing calls for 1,800 agents, from 2030 onwards 1,900 police officers should be produced per year until 2032. A mission, they reaffirm, impossible.