In Catalonia there are 4,000 repeat offenders: who are they and where do they operate?

BarcelonaTwo Japanese tourists board a train on Barcelona's L1 metro line. Upon arriving at Arc de Triomf station, they notice someone rummaging through their bags. It's a young man wearing a Manchester United shirt who, realizing he's been caught, abandons the theft and flees. Two security guards try to stop him, but he assaults one and escapes along the train tracks. He runs to the next station, Marina, where he re-enters the platform, covered in black dust, and flees again. He's a "two-time offender," which in police jargon means he has two prior convictions, and two plainclothes officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) eventually arrest him, placing him against the wall and handcuffing him, while a third security guard, trembling, explains that he had to use pepper spray to subdue him.

The chase took place on Friday, during the tenth Kanpai operation. The plan of the Mossos d'Esquadra designed to deal with repeat offendersThe Catalan police consider this young man an active offender with a risk of persistence (DARP) because he has committed at least two property crimes in the last six months. This is the new way they classify these repeat offenders. A total of 3,969 have been identified across Catalonia.

Hours before this arrest, a group of officers sat in the Sant Andreu police station and listened to a speech by the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon. As if she were the president of a club facing a match, she urged the police to win the duel, to "change the perception of." As is typical before matches, Parlon, accompanied by Josep Lluís Trapero, the police chief, left the room, and the police officials proceeded to give their tactical briefing, in which they would identify the areas of the city where they needed to take action.

The top brass of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) attended the briefing for the tenth Kanpai Plan last Friday to show their support for the officers, and also as a prelude to what happened this Monday: from the press room of the Catalan Ministry of the Interior, Parlon, Trapero, and the Chief Commissioner of the Mossos, Miquel Esquius, gave an overview of the first six months. This report confirms that there have been 470 arrests, with more than 4,000 prior offenses in total – they did not specify how many have been remanded in custody – as well as 24,000 individuals identified, totaling 53,000 prior offenses. It also reports that 2,000 mobile phones have been recovered, the target of most repeat offenders. Parlon warned that "the Mossos have declared war on crime" and that the Kanpai Plan, created by Mossos Superintendent Toni Rodríguez, is a consolidated reality.

Keep an eye on the buyers

Several Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) units arrive at a recycling center in the Poblenou neighborhood. The scene unfolds hours before the repeat offender on the subway attempts to rob the two Japanese tourists. Workers and customers are surprised. As if they knew exactly where they were going, the officers head straight to the back of the facility, where they find what they were looking for: two boxes full of copper. They will analyze its origin and, above all, whether it was stolen. Operation Kanpai is about this: not only fighting the thief, but also the networks that buy and sell stolen goods. During these six months, the police have investigated 18 people for receiving stolen property—profiting from stolen goods—and have recovered €115,000 in cash.

Until now, it was known and studied that there were many repeat offenders in Barcelona: approximately 830. These criminals represent 10% of all offenders, but commit 33.9% of crimes. Many are vulnerable individuals with weak ties to the community, who steal to survive or to feed their drug habit. There is also a more selective profile of repeat offender, who reaps significant profits from their criminal activity. The majority are male and very young. According to Commissioner Esquius, "they show no signs of abandoning criminal activity" and feel they can act with impunity. This, according to the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), is directly linked to the difficulty of enforcing sanctions. According to Trapero, discussions are ongoing with the judiciary, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and other institutions to expedite these processes. "The increased judicial reinforcement is already noticeable," stated Parlon.

But we didn't know how many repeat offenders there were in all of Catalonia, and the fact that Kanpai is a plan that has gone beyond the metropolitan area—it has been implemented in 28 municipalities—has allowed the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) to obtain this data. During the plan's six months, 3,969 repeat offenders have been identified, 78% of whom operate in the metropolitan areas. In Barcelona, repeat offenders were counted if they had committed seven thefts in a few months, but now that criterion has changed. When expanding the plan nationwide, the Mossos created the DARP label, which applies to a thief who has committed at least two property crimes in the last six months, presents a high risk of persistence, and operates in the same area. They usually live where they commit their crimes and are opportunistic thieves.

In fact, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) deny that crime is shifting to other parts of Catalonia due to the pressure being exerted in the Catalan capital. Trapero said this Monday that "there isn't much mobility among repeat offenders," but rather that most operate "quite consistently" in a specific area.

The debate on nationalities

Parlon states that the Kanpai plan had a "very positive" impact. Its objective is not only to make arrests and re-arrests, but also to send a message to citizens and another to criminals: to the former, that they are safe, and to the latter, that they cannot commit crimes with impunity. In fact, Trapero explained that several municipalities have asked them to bring Kanpai to their towns. The Catalan police link this plan to the sustained drop in petty theft. However, Esquius warned that in recent months they have been seeing an increase in robberies with violence, something that is causing concern and for which they are trying to find an explanation.

On the other hand, the minister stated that they will have "zero tolerance" for repeat offenders, but also for "false rumors" and for those who try to make "perverse associations" between immigrants and crime. Parlon explained that they do not specify the nationality of repeat offenders following the guidelines of the code of ethics of the Catalan Journalists' Association. "What's important is not whether they are a man or a woman, or their weight, whether they are married or single, but that they are a persistent offender." In this regard, Trapero announced that when they present the crime statistics for Catalonia in January, they will conduct a more contextual analysis of specific crime types and the profile of the majority of offenders, also including, in some cases, whether they are foreign nationals.