Former Mossos d'Esquadra chief Eduard Sallent leaves the police force

BarcelonaThe Mossos d'Esquadra commissioner, Eduard Sallent, will leave the police force in the coming weeks. He was currently the head of the South Metropolitan Police Region. The Catalan police chief has served in two different periods: first under the government of Quim Torra and then under that of Pere Aragonès. When Salvador Illa's PSC party returned to power in Catalonia, the new Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, and the new Director of the Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, dismissed him and appointed Commissioner Miquel Esquius in his place. Sallent's decision to request a leave of absence, as previously reported by The Country And confirmed by the ARA, it has already been communicated to police headquarters.

Eduard Sallent joined the Mossos d'Esquadra as a patrol officer in 1997. Sallent, who graduated in philosophy from the University of Barcelona in 1998, was active in the National Federation of Students of Catalonia (FNEC) as a young man, alongside figures such as Quim Forn and Elisenda Paluzie. The year before finishing his degree, he decided to join the Mossos d'Esquadra. He started in La Selva and El Gironès, and by 2001 he was already a corporal. One of the biggest leaps in his career came in 2014, after four years as a superintendent. He was appointed head of mediation and, three years later, became head of intelligence, a position he held during the August 17 attacks. In 2019, he was promoted to head of the General Information Commissariat. Sallent, often viewed with suspicion by some due to his past ties to the FNEC (National Federation of Catalan Schools) and the Catalan independence movement, didn't become a commissioner the first time he tried. But in 2019, he finally succeeded. He was then immediately appointed head of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) under Miquel Buch's leadership at the Ministry of the Interior, with Major Josep Lluís Trapero sidelined due to the legal proceedings related to the October 1st referendum. This move was criticized, and the internal turmoil foreshadowed a critical period on the streets, marked by post-trial protests and the pandemic. Sallent formed a partnership with Pere Ferrer, the police director, an alliance that endured.

Acquitted in the trial for the October 1st operation, the new Minister of the Interior, Miquel Sàmper, reinstated Major Trapero as head of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police). Neither Sàmper nor Trapero trusted Sallent, with whom there was no rapport, and he was removed from his position. Between 2020 and 2021, he became head of the South Metropolitan Police Region, one of the most challenging in the country.

The Return

In 2021, new winds blew through the Catalan Ministry of the Interior, which for the first time was governed by the ERC party with Joan Ignasi Elena at the helm. The minister decided to remove Trapero and appoint Commissioner Josep Maria Estela as head of the force. However, he also brought back Sallent, placing him as deputy chief. But there was no harmony between Sallent and Estela, as the latter felt that the former overstepped his bounds in several decisions. The situation deteriorated to the point that Elena dismissed Estela and reinstated Eduard Sallent as head of the force. With Estela's dismissal in 2022, Sallent consolidated his position as head of the force, and the ministry eventually nominated him for the rank of major, a position he earned, but which remained unfilled. standSallent's term as police chief ended in the wake of Puigdemont's return to the Catalan Parliament in the summer of 2024. With the PSC taking power in the Generalitat and Trapero assuming leadership of the police force, everyone assumed Sallent would step down due to their long-standing strained relationship. He was ultimately dismissed and, since 2024, has served as head of the South Metropolitan Police Region. His next professional move remains unknown.