"She has clear ideas and feels comfortable in charge": who is Sílvia Catà, the new head of the Mossos?

Barcelona"She will do well", "She is a good professional and a very good person", "She is good", "Good choice". It was past ten o'clock on Tuesday night and it was not yet known that Commissioner Sílvia Catà would be the new head of the Mossos d'Esquadra. Even so, several Mossos commanders were already endorsing her selection in these messages. All the polls were betting on her, the until-now head of the Mossos in Girona, or Commissioner Montserrat Estruch, the head in Barcelona. In fact, Estruch was even considered the favorite.

Finally, the Minister of Interior, Núria Parlon –who has reiterated that the decision was hers–, has chosen Catà, an officer with almost thirty years of experience in the Mossos force. From Maresme, born in Arenys de Munt on May 14, 1973, she holds a degree in business administration and management from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has developed much of her police career in the metropolitan area. She has even worked in the Internal Affairs division of the Mossos. Among her positions, it stands out that between 2018 and 2019 she was head of the ABP Mollet del Vallès. Subsequently, she was regional coordinator of citizen security for the Barcelona police region, and between 2022 and 2023 she was deputy head of the Barcelona police region.

This Wednesday morning, in the upper echelons of the Mossos, the resignation of Trapero and the choice of Ferran López as director of the Police came as a surprise, but not the choice of Catà as head of the force. Parlon has always said in her internal circles that she wanted a woman and the focus quickly turned to the group of commissioners, among whom were Estruch and Catà, who had been appointed in 2022, during the last promotion. That choice, in fact, was the definitive reason for the break between the minister at the time, Joan Ignasi Elena, and the then-head of the Mossos, Josep Maria Estela, who was reluctant to the appointments.

Among the group of female commissioners, Parlon set her sights on Catà, a police officer who people who have worked with her explain is technically "very good", "competent" and "hardworking", who has passed through various parts of the territory and also through central services. Above all, she is backed by her recent time in Girona and the fact of having coordinated citizen security in a city as complex as Barcelona. The same sources point out that she has "clear ideas", is not at all insecure and feels comfortable in command. These voices believe that she does indeed have the challenge of feeling more comfortable speaking in public and in the protocol events that she will have to assume as head of the force.

The families of the Mossos

For years, the Mossos have had to be observed as a microcosm in which various families coexist, some with more presence than others, such as Trapero's sector or the one that until recently was more linked to Commissioner Eduard Sallent. And, therefore, one of the big questions is which family Catà belongs to. People who know her environment point out that she cannot be considered close to Trapero. In fact, the director of the Police until now did not agree with the idea of her being the head of the corps. She was indeed chosen as commissioner during the mandate of Eduard Sallent, who placed her as head of the Mossos in Girona, but most voices end up placing her in a neutral point.

All sources do insist on the fact that Catà needs freedom to create her headquarters and surround herself with trusted people to govern the corps. And, in the decision of who will accompany her, it will surely be possible to intuit whether she tries to balance between the various Mossos families or not. Catà's challenges are clear: multi-recidivism, organized crime, and combating the feeling of insecurity.