Vitoria local police commissioner fired four months after appointment for “ineffective” management

Vidaurre was appointed commissioner last June to become the first woman in history to head the local police force in the capital of Alava. He accepted the position on secondment, while waiting for the municipal government to launch an internal selection process.

The Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSJPV) ratified a month earlier the judgment which annulled the appointment of the commissioner of the Municipal Police of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Roberto Garcia Tobalinaand agreed with then-Deputy Commissioner Vidaurre, who reported the situation when she realized her rights had been violated.

Four months later, the security advisor, Iñaki Gurtubai, argued for dismissal due to his “absolute lack of suitability for the positionlack of ability to lead the organization, tendency to entrust work to subordinates, breakdown of trust with political leaders” and “not meeting the absolute availability required by the position”, among other reasons.

Gurtubai appeared at his own request before the Municipal Security Commission to inform the opposition of the revocation of the service commission of the local police chief commissioner and explain that “You can no longer work with this person.” at the head of the police organization.

The security advisor justified his decision in different blocks. As a first reason, he affirms that Vidaurre has a “obvious lack of capacity and the skills necessary to involve the organization in its objectives”, as well as “to create a work team and lead the team” of the Municipal Police.

A concrete example of the reasons for his dismissal

As an example, he indicated that, from September 23 to 27, two deputy commissioners worked with the commissioner, who “confronted them and they took their leave.”

“In a week when no deputy commissioner is working, Vidaurre plans to request leave to care for his brother-in-law, who was admitted to hospital and later attended a private meeting of the Chefs’ association local police. That week, the principal and this counselor were the only police officers. This is a specific event, but it demonstrates the situation. that there were among the group of managers”, he declared, to criticize Vidaurre who is “incapable of creating a work team with his team”.

Likewise, he accused the former commissioner of having “a tendency to entrust work to her subordinates”. “So much so that when subordinates rebel, there are delays in very important operational matters like service commissions, in which vacancies are filled,” he added.

In this sense, Gurtubai denounced that “delays due to the inefficiency of the police station” do not allow us to provide a correct service. “As he was asked to resolve the service commissions, it took him a month and a half to process them, causing dysfunctions in the service, which I attribute to his inefficiency in management,” he ruled. .

“Total loss of confidence”

The security advisor alleged “the loss of confidence necessary to work with Vidaurre”, because “their way of working is absolutely autonomous from those in charge” and “creates insecurity for those of us who must politically lead the ministrysince we do not know what is happening in itself.

In this regard, he said that the commissioner called him “once in the four months” he held this position, while with the previous commissioner “he spoke about four times a day.” “She thought that being a boss freed you from having to explain yourself.“, consult and ask for authorization,” he criticized.

As an example, Gurtubai explained that “the commissioner decides alone, without consulting and without asking for authorization that he will receive more commissions for deputy commissioner services. We order him to cancel them until we analyze their need and he responds in writing that he will not pay attention and that the mayor orders it, who is ultimately the one who gave him the order to cancel commissions.

“Following this confrontation,” he continued, “we had a meeting with the mayor, the councilwoman, the department director and the commissioner, during which she declared that she did not feel not bound by the orders of the advisor and the director.” “The meeting was paralyzed and a report was requested from legal counsel.who considered that the commissioner is legally bound by our instructions”, he concluded.

On the other hand, he criticized the fact that the former commissioner ordered a deputy commissioner to modify the 2023 police report, which was already “approved by the director and advisor of the Department and published on the website Internet”. Specifically, he described that Vidaurre ordered “to change the details of a vacant mayoral position that she asked the city council to fill.” “She cannot ask to change one thing, bypassing her hierarchical superiors”Gurtubai reproached.

After emphasizing that “in this context, there is no professional confidence”, the councilor indicated that it is his responsibility to meet the neighborhood associations to “be in contact with society and know its demands directly”but the commissioner “disobeyed his order” and contacted, through a deputy commissioner, a neighborhood association.