Robberies with violence, injuries, threats and abuse at home, committed with knife. There were five per day in 2022 in Catalonia. A balance that gave birth to the Dague Plan, which Mossos of the Squara implemented to put an end to incidents involving knives or machetes, among others. Now, the Catalan police, alerted by the increase in the possession of this type of sharp objects, will deploy another plan, “zero tolerance” – in the words of the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon – to try to eradicate them from public spaces. And it was only between January and August of this year that they were more than 6,200 seized by agents across the country, compared to 3,800 across the whole of 2020.
The increase worries the Catalan police, especially on the eve of the Mercè Festival or those of Santa Tecla. The new plan will therefore be structured around three axes: prevent, prosecute and punish -based on current legislation- the possession of bladed weapons in public spaces. First, strengthening of controls in areas of particular risksuch as nightlife areas or large events, such as concerts. Also carry out random checks on means of transport, such as the metro or buses. Finally, with the related administrative sanctions, the minimum amount of which is 600 euros, as detailed this Thursday by the director of police, Josep Lluis Trapero.
There is no precise profile of those who carry this type of weapon, according to the chief commissioner of the Mossos, Miquel Esquius. Yes, among those who have had altercations with them, basically, young people and men. The intention of this new police challenge is also to generate intelligence – to be able to gather information about the phenomenon – and to contribute to awareness. That is, to eradicate knives from the street, with the ultimate goal of preventing their use in robberies and assaults.
How will this be achieved? “With weekend planning with specific devices“, in which the local police will also participate. The second area of action is that of administrative cases handled by the agents and which generally result in sanctions. The intention is to increase the amount of fines for those who repeat their use -something that the law already provides for-.
And, a third question, that said files do not expirebut rather they translate into the aforementioned fine. For now, the Corps rules out that a reform of the Penal Code is necessary, “the existing one must be sufficient to alleviate this problem,” Trapero stressed.
“We want a public space without weapons“Commissioner Esquius stressed”, after acknowledging that crime rates involving knives have increased, and that “among certain groups, their possession has been normalized, without realizing its consequences”. Every day, around 25 people are seized throughout Catalonia. Or elsewhere, in the metropolitan area. The majority of incidents involving knives occur on public roads – more than seven out of ten. 25 percent of them are robberies with violence. And another 15 percent correspond to threats or coercion.
