Trapero recalls his toughest days: "The prison smelled from the terrace of my house."

Barcelona"I felt like I was in prison; I could smell the prison from the terrace of my house." With these words, the chief of the Mossos d'Esquadra and current director of the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero, recalled his most "complicated" days. They date back to the years following the October 1st referendum, when Trapero, who stepped down as chief of the Mossos d'Esquadra in 1955, was indicted for sedition and ended up being tried in the National Court. facing sentences of 10 years in prisonIn that process, Trapero "breathed the prison breath."

In an interview with SER (Spanish radio station), Trapero explains that he went from being a "hero" to a "traitor" in a matter of months. "I felt very outraged. I was insulted every day. A persona was constructed that wasn't real, it didn't correspond to who I am," he lamented. The current director of the Police fell into ostracism due to the application of Article 155 and wasn't tried until two years later. "I thought my life from that moment on would be a long procession through the courts," he stated, adding that he faced a very long process that "healed" him, with "190 sessions with a psychologist."

In the midst of that complicated time, Trapero had a daughter who had health problems. "That put things in their place, and the whole question of the trial became secondary," he said. "I'm not religious, but I believe that sometimes things happen because someone orders them to. And someone ordered it," he concluded. Ultimately, his daughter improved and The National Court acquitted him, endorsing the actions of the Mossos d'Esquadra on October 1st..

"Sometimes the only thing the police can do is make things worse," he said about the police response to the referendum, adding that "depending on the use of force, the only thing you can do is create a public order problem." Trapero admitted that all police forces made "mistakes." Part of this conflict was the confrontation with other police forces, or at least with some of their commanders. He doesn't hold a grudge against them, he said, but also explained that he "wouldn't engage in a conversation."

Another of the moments he experienced with the most "pain" as head of the force was the attacks of 17-A. He stated that the theories that suggest that the imam of Ripoll did not die in the Alcanar explosion "do not correspond to reality." "The police proved that he had died beyond a doubt, and the courts also prove it. Nowadays, scientifically proven facts are compared with opinions. I won't go into that aspect. But I have no doubt that the person died there. The remains were found. It's not compatible with life to find a piece of sternum in a wall," he said. The police chief stated that they have since improved their intelligence and knowledge. "We had been constantly questioned as a police force," Trapero said.

The dismissal

Trapero also recalled that after being dismissed under Article 155 and reappointed chief of the Mossos d'Esquadra following his acquittal, former minister Joan Ignasi Elena decided to dismiss him. The Catalan police chief did not question the legitimacy of this decision, but stated that the process leading up to his dismissal was "improvable" and that the methods used were not entirely "honest." "Fortunately, we are in a different era," he asserted. With the arrival of Salvador Isla at the Palace of the Generalitat, Trapero was appointed Director General of the Police, swapping his uniform for a tie. Now, he remains in this phase, promising a "new deployment of the police" and working for a force that is not "partisan" and free from interference.

Trapero criticizes the Interior Ministry leadership: "Too many years of undemocratic, opportunistic, and clientelist management."

On current issues, such as the return of Carles Puigdemont (This week, the ARA revealed how the former president managed to disappear into the crowd.), Trapero, who was not yet director of the Police at the time, declined to comment on the Mossos d'Esquadra operation: "It's not my job." However, he did admit that it was a blow to his body. However, he positively assessed the Mossos d'Esquadra investigation – calling it "excellent" – into Dani Alves, accused of a sexual assault that was finally (pending the Supreme Court) has been acquitted.