In August 2008, chance brought me to the scorching city of Page, Arizona. I have never experienced more scorching heat in my life. To try and keep myself biologically intact, I took refuge with a pitcher of beer at the Mexican restaurant La Fiesta. I was glancing at the Lake Powell Chronicle when Stevie Manniel, a Navajo Indian, sat next to me. He was half-drunk and wanted money. I showed him the state of my pants, in tatters, and he replied that only the rich dared to go out on the street with ripped pants.—What do you find interesting in the newspaper? —he/she asked me.I told him about a piece of news that I found surprising: the county's educational authorities were organizing teenage work teams during the hottest months of summer. They did strenuous work, such as repairing street furniture or the gardens of the elderly, or even road labor, with the aim of creating bonds between isolated teenagers, because —the newspaper said— "there is no worse company for teenagers than loneliness." Although everything was organized by the county's educational authorities, the implementation was carried out by local police volunteers without any financial compensation. One policeman assured that working under those climatic conditions made the collaboration between all those involved and the creation of bonds of trust and solidarity essential. Participation was voluntary and young people could withdraw whenever they wished.Given that my image of deep America's police was shaped by the arbitrary sheriffs of Hollywood movies, all of this surprised me so much that I took it with suspicion, even though the program supervisor assured that the mission of the police is, first and foremost, to prevent crime and ensure the well-being of the entire community. And then, surprisingly, that woman quoted Plato: the mission of the police, she said, is to guarantee the freedom of citizens.

Now that the public safety alarm has sounded in the streets, it is pertinent to ask what the feeling of security in the streets is made of. When garbage is scattered at the foot of the bins, when trains run graffiti-covered, when drivers of all kinds act as if a red or green traffic light were a mere non-binding opinion, when investment is made for the first-day photo and we forget about maintenance, when the usual shops are replaced by businesses not aimed at residents but at passers-by, when people have to leave the neighborhood because they can no longer afford it, the knots that socially bind us come undone, because the primacy of the common interest has been replaced by the law of the jungle, and we feel insecure.

The current head of the National Police in the Balearic Islands, José Santafé Arnedo, will now be the new Deputy Director of Operations (DAO) of the force. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska appointed him to the top police command position, replacing José Ángel González, who resigned when it became known that he was under investigation. allegedly for sexually assaulting a subordinateThe vacancy for the position of Deputy Director of Operations (DAO)—which in practice means being the number two in the force—opened seven days ago, and Santafé submitted his application. Since González's resignation and while the new police chief was being chosen, the position had been temporarily filled by the deputy director of human resources, Gema Barroso. Finally, Marlaska chose Santafé at the suggestion of the director general of the force, Francisco Pardo; a political leadership position and the only one above the DAO.

Santafé is 61 years old and has held various positions throughout his career in the force, which began in 1990. As an inspector, he worked in public safety, the judicial police, and immigration matters, both in Madrid and the Balearic Islands. In 2005, Santafé was promoted to chief inspector and in 2012 to commissioner. With this rank, he served in the Canary Islands and again in the Balearic Islands, where in 2020 he reached the highest rank in the police force—that of chief commissioner—and since 2022 had been the chief superintendent of the regional police headquarters. During this time, he worked alongside the current Secretary of State for Security, Aina Calvo, who served as the Spanish government's delegate in the Balearic Islands between 2020 and 2023.

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L'Hospitalet de Llobregat will be the site of the pilot test of a system that aims to eliminate the business of reselling appointments for immigration proceduresThis is a model that will automate the scheduling of appointments for the process, making it easier for users to obtain one. The system has already been successfully tested in Castellón and Girona, and the goal is to gradually expand and implement it throughout Spain. While the trial is underway, when a resident of Hospitalet's immigration application is approved, the notification will inform them that they will no longer need to schedule an appointment to obtain their Foreigner's Identity Card (TIE), as has been the practice until now. The difference from now on is that, a few days later, they will receive a text message or email assigning them a date and time to complete the procedure at the National Police station. They will also receive a reminder the day before the appointment. In fact, the first steps of this trial have already been taken. The first notifications informing users that they would receive an automated appointment were sent on Monday, January 12. A week later, on Monday the 19th, users received the first messages with their appointments. The first date they have been summoned for is next Monday, February 2.

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The most commercially successful platforms have increased their productions focused on elite military units and have normalized an aesthetic of order, strength, and discipline. One of the latest examples is the documentary series Pelayo: Beyond the Limit on Prime Video. The protagonist is Pelayo Gayol, a veteran inspector with the Spanish National Police's GEO special operations unit who joins real anti-drug trafficking missions in Colombia. We already met the character in another documentary series, GEO: Beyond the Limitwhere he trained and selected the Special Operations Group, pushing agents to their limits to transform them into superhumans. Pelayo fosters a testosterone-fueled emotional immersion in military discipline. He plunges us into a context of violence and tension while constructing a cheap, pseudo-intellectual discourse about his work.

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This week we will continue discussing funding, because on Wednesday Spanish Vice President Montero will present the model agreed upon with Esquerra Republicana in all the autonomous communities. It will be a formality, because the Spanish government holds a majority in this meeting.

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A minor's complaint in Tarragona has uncovered a sexual predator who used fake Instagram profiles to obtain child pornography and had harassed at least eight victims across Spain, six of them minors. The 26-year-old man lived in Santander and had even arranged in-person meetings with some of the victims, both minors and adults. With the man now in custody, the police investigation continues to clarify the full extent of the crimes.

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Sub-inspectors are the quintessential mid-level officers in the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police force). Just above sergeants and below inspectors, there are 414 officers with this rank, responsible for supervising units, groups, and subgroups. In other words, they often act as a liaison between the rank-and-file officers—the first line of defense when investigating or patrolling the streets—and the executive or upper echelon, comprised of the force's chiefs and coordinators. "We translate strategic decisions into operational work," sources within this rank explain, adding that their responsibilities are very similar to those of inspectors, especially when on duty. However, sub-inspectors have been fighting for months: they believe their duties are not commensurate with their salaries.

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A plainclothes National Police officer working during the mass protest against the Palestinian genocide this Saturday in Barcelona was held hostage by a group of protesters. The incident began when the officer attempted to arrest an activist who was spray-painting the Banco Santander headquarters on Passeig de Gràcia, next to Plaça Catalunya. The officer ended up lying on the ground with facial injuries, and the police force will refer the case to a court.

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Police action in response to the shooting that wounded former Catalan PP president and Vox co-founder Aleix Vidal-Quadras in the face in November 2023. Spanish police officers from the Sirene office carried out this Wednesday in Madrid the handover of a woman detained in the Netherlands for her alleged the attempted assassination of the politicianThe woman was arrested in April 2024 and has been in the Netherlands ever since until the judicial authorities ordered her transfer to Spain.

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The Madrid municipal police officer arrested for accidentally strangling a suspected thief to death was released on bail this Thursday. However, the investigation remains open, and an autopsy will determine the cause of death of the victim, who allegedly tried to steal the officer's cell phone. The officer, who was off-duty, used the mattress tactic, which consists of immobilizing someone by the neck. This incident, with several precedents in Catalonia, Spain, and around the world, has reopened the debate on how police immobilize or restrain someone.

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The Madrid Municipal Police officer arrested for accidentally killing a man who allegedly tried to steal his cell phone has been released on bail. The decision was made by the magistrate of Examining Magistrate's Court No. 1 of Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) after the man was brought before the State Security Forces on Thursday morning.

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"Every time we see a Google Pixel, we think it could be a drug dealer." This quote comes from one of the National Police's anti-drug officials in Catalonia. Gangs are always one step ahead and take extreme security measures in their communications to avoid being discovered or giving clues or even evidence to the police. The Google Pixel is a mobile phone that has become popular among drug traffickers in recent years, along with the Graphene OS operating system, which allows for encrypted communication that is impossible for the police to trace. Furthermore, these devices are designed to be formatted if you enter the PIN incorrectly several times. To avoid losing information on devices seized from drug traffickers, the police isolate the mobile phones in special bags to prevent them from making a mistake. reset remotely and erase all traces of their criminal activity.

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This week we want to focus on one fact: drugs can be found in every corner of Catalonia. In this Sunday's dossier, we'll focus on what's happening on the streets, where the way they're sold is changing, but we'll also look back to discover how Catalonia has become a drug hub. In fifteen years, seizures in Catalonia have doubled. So have arrests, closely linked to foreign criminal groups that are replacing local ones. These groups are taking increasingly greater precautions.

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The drug has many names. On the street, "chabú" and "tina" are methamphetamines. The first name was given to Asians, and the second is more commonly used by Americans. However, it comes more from North Africa. It's a mixture of drugs with hashish and cola, a combination on the rise. Caffeine, ketamine, and pink food coloring. And nothing is difficult to find. It's not easy to shake hands, hiding the exchange from a snitch. Police pressure on the street, especially by plainclothes officers, has led to more and more exchanges taking place from a distance. Russia. The dealers attach a small magnet, difficult to see with the naked eye, to blinds, trash cans, and other metal objects; and it's all done with bitcoins. Shortly afterward, the customer receives a location, accompanied by a photograph with an arrow indicating the exact location of the drug.

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New joint device of the police forces to catch thieves and repeat offenders in Catalonia. The Mossos d'Esquadra, together with the urban guard, the local police and the Spanish police, They carried out a new Kanpai plan yesterday (this is how they have dubbed this type of operation) that allowed them to identify and arrest up to thirty people in just seven hours, with a total of 226 criminal records, and locate another four people under criminal investigation, with a total of 48 records.

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The philologist Blanca Serra, that with his sister, the historian Eva Serra (who died in 2018), who went to the Via Laietana police station four times—in February 1977, July 1980, December 1981, and March 1982—made it clear this Monday at the City of Justice that she doesn't intend to give up, but also that she's not very optimistic.

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The Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's most influential mafia group, has officially informed the police of its intention to end a period of bloody internal conflict that has lasted more than ten years. In a letter sent on April 7, the Yakuza leaders pledged to cease hostilities with the factions that splintered in recent years. However, the Japanese authorities have received this announcement with caution, knowing that control over mafia groups remains a delicate issue.

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Nobody wants to officially get involved in the causes that have led the Iberian Peninsula to go darkSpanish President Pedro Sánchez insists that all possibilities remain open. All police forces, including Red Eléctrica, are thoroughly investigating what happened. However, Spanish government sources have confirmed to ARA that, suddenly, in just five seconds, 60% of Spain's electricity production disappeared this afternoon. The Spanish president also confirmed this in his appearance. Fifteen gigawatts of electricity have been lost, equivalent to twice the entire electricity production of all the state's nuclear power plants combined.

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This year, the Spanish government celebrates fifty years of Spain's freedom. That is, half a century since the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Despite the fierce repression, there were always people who stood up to him.. Even within the police.

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