An error in the restraining order control system leads to a "large number" of outright injunctions against domestic violence.

BarcelonaAn error in the restraining order control system left the location data of many individuals investigated and convicted for domestic violence crimes inaccessible, which would have been key to proving violations of these protection orders. The effects of this, warns the Attorney General's Office, have been noted in "a large number of provisional dismissals or acquittals." The incident that occurred last year affected both cases that were in the investigation phase and were ultimately closed, as well as trials in which, due to lack of evidence, a violation of the restraining order could not be convicted.

Specifically, the data that remained inaccessible was all data referring to before March 20, 2024, and which could serve as evidence of violations that had occurred at any time before that date. The problem outlined in the Attorney General's 2024 annual report has been a "common denominator" in many provincial prosecutor's offices. Girona is one of the affected entities that has raised the issue with their superiors, as have the prosecutors' offices in Madrid, Granada, and Tenerife, among others.

According to the Attorney General's own report, the problem arose from a change in the awarding of the service: due to download problems, the information from the previous provider became inaccessible. The migration to the new devices ended on March 20, 2024, and from that day onward, all history collected by the first provider, which included device usage data for those investigated with precautionary orders or already sentenced to restraining orders, was lost.

The Prosecutor's Office also points out that, in response to this problem, the courts for cases of violence against women received "repeatedly" communications from the Cometa system, which is the name of this telematic control system, warning that information prior to March 20, 2024, could not be provided. It adds that the response of those responsible The most common response has been: "As soon as the information is available, it will be forwarded" and "It is unknown when the situation can be resolved." However, the Prosecutor's Office "is aware that it has not been resolved," at least before the closing of the annual report, which covers up to the end of last year.

Equality admits "technical incidents" have already been resolved.

When questioned by ARA, the Ministry of Equality, which is responsible for the Cometa system, did not clarify how long the data was inaccessible, as the Prosecutor's Office claims, and stated that it currently has "each and every piece of data" integrated into the system. Regarding the error that left the data inaccessible, sources from the ministry replied that a transfer of companies took place last year and that, during the transition process, a specific temporary employment contract (UTE) took over the service. A new platform was installed, with a team that included IT technicians from Telefónica, Vodafone, and Securitas, "which allowed it to be carried out optimally before the end of the year."

The Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, also spoke out this Wednesday in statements to reporters in the Congress of Deputies. The minister admitted that "some technical issues were detected during the contract change," although she described them as "specific problems" that were "immediately resolved." Redondo added that "it's a past issue, from November and December 2024; it was resolved, and fortunately, the system is working much better than before."