<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - local police]]> 10 <![CDATA[“It was like an operation against drug trafficking”: Cort’s police raid against street artists]]>

Mabel Chavarino was walking from the Olivar market towards Sant Miquel when she suddenly saw, entering the pedestrian zone, three Local Police vans. A bunch of uniformed officers got out and she thought: "They are going to look for the street vendors". When she arrived at Sant Miquel, she observed how dozens of people in plain clothes –she counted more than thirty– began to put on identification vests. They were also police officers. She realized that "they are not only going to look for the street vendors" –that is what she calls them–, but that they were going after the street artists. The officers began to draw up reports, seize their equipment, put their things into garbage bags and deposit everything into the police vehicles. "Not even in an operation against drug trafficking", she summarizes.

]]> <![CDATA[Denounce shortcomings in the security of Alaró's festivals: "Where was the police device?"]]>

The socialist municipal group of Alaró has denounced the alleged shortcomings in the security device during the Sant Roc festivities after the assault that occurred in the Plaça de la Vila, in front of the Town Hall and a few meters from the Local Police facilities, and in which a 16-year-old boy lost three teeth. The socialists have condemned the events and expressed their solidarity with the people who would have been assaulted. "Violence has no municipality, age, or justification," they point out, while defending that any violent behavior must be rejected "forcefully".

]]> <![CDATA[They criminally report the company of local police officer Rafael Ramis for the evictions of Joan Miró in Palma]]>

Stop Desnonaments Mallorca has announced that last week it filed a criminal complaint before the Court of First Instance against the company Barama Nesa SL, its sole administrator, Rafael Ramis Sastre, and its legal representatives. The platform considers that in the judicial proceedings related to the dwellings in the basements of Avinguda de Joan Miró, 24B, alleged crimes of procedural fraud, fraud of law, and abuse of right may have occurred.

]]> <![CDATA[More than 5,700 counterfeit products seized in operation on Playa de Palma]]>

The Local Police have seized 5,723 counterfeit products in a large-scale operation against commercial fraud carried out in Platja de Palma, an action in which 21 people were investigated as alleged perpetrators of crimes against industrial property. The inspections took place between 11:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. in 21 commercial establishments located on Cartago street, the Arenal road, and Plaça de les Meravelles.

]]> <![CDATA[They report that local police officers in Palma on internships patrol alone]]>

The ATAP union (Association of Public Administration Workers) has reported this Thursday serious security deficiencies and labor conditions in the Palma Local Police, with interns patrolling alone and without the necessary police equipment. This is a situation that, in their opinion, puts their integrity at risk and could compromise the legal validity of certain police actions.

]]> <![CDATA[A snake bites a police officer when he was trying to capture it in a dwelling in Palma]]>

A Local Police officer from Palma was slightly injured this Wednesday evening after being bitten by a snake during an intervention in a dwelling in the Son Ferriol neighborhood.

]]> <![CDATA[The Local Police of Palma protests the lack of staff and the non-fulfillment of commitments]]>

Dozens of agents from the Local Police of Palma have gathered this Thursday in front of the City Hall to demand labor improvements and denounce what they consider a breach of commitments by the municipal government team.

]]> <![CDATA[The Local Police and its language. Future challenges]]> Last month we talked about public safety in the article The grammar of security. Logically, we also included perception, social bonds, the fragility of modern societies, and the human need to feel protected. Now the challenge is to tread other paths in the language of security, mainly to talk about the role and functions of local police forces in the 21st century.What do we really expect from them? What is the scope of their authority? How do they manage transparency, ethics, or proximity? Are they prepared? Do we feel them close? And also: what human transformation – that of the police officers – does living for decades with conflict, tension, and citizen frustration imply?Since 1986, local police forces in the Spanish state are indeed police, but they are not a "full police" in all the classic dimensions of police activity. That year, the well-known Organic Law 2/1986 on security forces and bodies was enacted, a regulation that many municipal police officers perceived – from the very beginning – as an incomplete legislative architecture. The text makes it clear, legally, that local police forces are police. However, within the imaginary of the State machinery and state police forces, they remained as mere auxiliaries.They cannot carry out criminal investigations autonomously, unless under judicial dependency. Nor do they have the specific functions of the Judicial Police, nor do they have full access to certain state or European databases. They cannot carry out intelligence tasks or act with full autonomy in sensitive public security matters.Clearly stated: we are facing a partial police force, except when we talk about its own functions – security in municipal spaces, traffic regulation, ordinance application, prevention and proximity –, areas in which local police forces have developed a notable level of specialization and effectiveness.The problem is that this institutional and legislative reality has been going on for more than forty years, while the world, society, and forms of conflict have changed profoundly. In the early nineties, there was an intense struggle – under the direction of chief superintendent Joan Feliu – so that the scenario would not end up being this and so that the interpretation of the law would be different. The archives still preserve the tug-of-war between the Local Police of Palma and the rest of the State security forces. This was also recorded in the directives, appeals, and judicial rulings of those years. Finally, the model was consolidated with a very strict delimitation of powers. Whoever is in charge, is in charge.We continue. Within the Spanish constitutional framework, public security – and even citizen security itself – is not a full municipal competence. With the different normative reforms of local administrations, the little political capacity that mayors retained in this matter was progressively reduced. The main responsibility remains with the State, thus, in capital letters. Municipalities can participate in it, but always within the limits set by the norm.But, of course, citizens don't know all this and don't care much about it. Who they see every day at the bar and in the street is the mayor and the councilor on duty, and it is they who receive all the curses from heaven, while the real responsible parties receive no direct pressure. Indeed, town halls become protective shields against the Government Delegation and the State bodies. The victims are municipal officials and local police officers. In politics, not everything goes. Some parties and list leaders think so and use this difficult juncture to access power or undermine the resistance of those who govern. It doesn't matter if cheap populism or fear among citizens increases.In practice, however, public security and citizen security have ended up sharing diffuse and often ambiguous spaces. In theory, security boards should help coordinate and supplement these ambiguities, but we will leave this section for another occasion. So far we can state that we have a strained local police model, partially outdated and with evident functional imbalances.As we said before, the social and criminal landscape has changed profoundly. Today, reality is much more hybrid and complex. Cybercrime has appeared, information systems are completely different from those of 1986, and citizens demand real, visible, and immediate proximity security. But the legal framework remains limiting and restrictive. We have too many bodies with partial competencies and local police forces often underutilized.This model also has real strengths: it maintains centralized control over criminal investigation and intelligence, guarantees a certain penal homogeneity, and prevents each municipality from developing a kind of "own police force" with different criteria.However, local police forces have an effective presence in the territory. They know the people, the conflicts, and the social dynamics of towns and cities. They are often the first to intervene. Today they have quality training, operational experience, and reasonable technical resources. But we also face a possible underutilization of public resources. The citizen who asks for help or protection almost always knows nothing about this whole web of competencies. They only see a blue uniform and expect a response. And many times this response is not possible or is legally limited.Then the uncomfortable questions arise: why do local councils allocate so many economic resources to a police force that they can only partially manage? Why do citizens and political parties – especially from the opposition – constantly demand more officers and more police presence? And, above all, how have we arrived at building a local police model that increasingly leans towards citizen security, precisely in the area where it has the fewest competences, while traditional functions such as prevention, proximity, or administrative policing are weakened?Perhaps the final question is another: does the current model truly respond to the needs of the 21st century or does it continue to be, above all, a structure designed for a reality that no longer exists?

]]> <![CDATA[Arrested for burning bins in Palma and violating a restraining order]]>

The Local Police of Palma arrested on June 18 a 56-year-old man as the alleged perpetrator of the fire of two containers on Gabriel Alzamora street. The agents also arrested him for having breached a court order that prohibited him from approaching within 500 meters of his mother's home.

]]> <![CDATA[Seven arrested and wall with Spanish flag in Son Banya demolished]]>

The National Police and the Local Police of Palma deployed a police operation this Thursday in the Son Banya neighborhood. The objective was to attack drug trafficking and demolish the characteristic wall painted with the Spanish flag that the inhabitants of the neighborhood painted for the Football World Cup.

]]> <![CDATA[A man dies falling from a roof in Moscari]]>

A man has died after suffering a fall from the roof of a property located in Moscari, in the municipality of Selva.

]]> <![CDATA[They report that the police officers of the drone unit of Palma are acting unlawfully]]>

The ATAP union (Association of Public Administration Workers) has called for the cessation of temporary assignments for agents of the Drone Unit (UDROP) due to being a fraudulent act. According to their explanation, the agents were chosen "by hand" through an emergency procedure after the unit's creation in June 2024, but the legal limit of two years for these provisional appointments has already been exceeded.

]]> <![CDATA[Justice declares null the position of Deputy Inspector of the Calvià Police]]>

The Administrative Litigation Court number 3 of Palma has ruled in favor of UGT and declared null the appointment for job improvement of the Calvià Police sub-inspector published on April 11, 2025. As reported by the union, the court has fully upheld the lawsuit filed by UGT Serveis Púbrics and has annulled the temporary provision of this position, ruling that it was carried out through a process that violated current legislation.

]]> <![CDATA[Algaida creates the figure of the Reference Police Officer to look after the elderly]]>

The Algaida City Council has presented the strategic project 'Policia per a la Gent Gran d’Algaida 2026' (Police for the Elderly of Algaida 2026). It is an initiative by the Local Police that is born with the aim of guaranteeing a safer, more protected, and active environment for the elderly in the municipality, a group that has experienced notable growth in recent years. The great novelty of this plan is the creation of the figure of the reference police officer, an agent who will act as a direct link with the socio-health network and will offer personalized and empathetic attention to the elderly.

]]> <![CDATA[Dog rescued from house fire in Palma]]>

The Palma Local Police have rescued a dog in a house fire in Palma. According to the force, the intervention took place in a fire that broke out on the ground floor of a four-story building located on Mochuelo street.A call to 092 alerted about smoke coming from inside the building. Within minutes, agents from the Community Proximity Team (ECOP) had moved to the scene and confirmed the presence of dense smoke.

]]> <![CDATA[The Palma City Council agrees to raise the salary of the Local Police]]>

The Palma City Council and the Local Police unions have reached an agreement that will allow progress in improving the organization of the force and the adaptation of their working conditions, after months of tension and protests. The pact, reached this Friday, incorporates a new bonus linked to driving emergency vehicles, with the aim of recognizing the special conditions and risk associated with this function. Additionally, a special dedication bonus is added, intended to reflect the sustained increase in workload in recent years.On the other hand, the City Council has committed to studying the inclusion of weekends and holidays within the specific bonus. Overall, the City Council estimates that the implementation of the plan will have an impact of 10 million euros and could mean increases of more than 2,500 euros gross per month in bonuses.The agreement comes after the force's latest demonstration, in which a hundred officers walked the streets of the city while Cort maintained that there was a "firm proposal". Over the last four months, the unions had intensified protests against the mayor, Jaime Martínez, for failing to meet the commitment to approve the plan by January 1st.Tension reached a peak with internal changes in the City Council, when Llorenç Bauzà took over Public Function, replacing Mercedes Celeste, and the direction of the Local Police. After an initial meeting with Bauzà, now as the highest responsible for the areas involved in developing the plan, the unions considered that the change of personnel had been futile. "The plan remains blocked," they declared.the unions considered that the change of personnel had been futile. "The plan remains blocked," they declared.

]]> <![CDATA[Cort offers a proposal with "technical guarantees" for the Local Police plan amid a new demonstration]]>

The Palma City Council reiterated this Wednesday that there is a "firm proposal" for the Local Police Organization Plan, amid unrest within the force and a new protest in the streets of the city. Nevertheless, the Consistory has avoided commenting on the mobilization led by the officers.

]]> <![CDATA[Cort offers a proposal with "technical endorsements" for the Local Police plan amid a new demonstration]]>

The Palma City Council has reiterated this Wednesday that there is a "firm proposal" for the Local Police Organization Plan, amid discontent within the force and a new protest in the streets of Ciutat. Nevertheless, the City Council has avoided commenting on the mobilization led by the officers.

]]> <![CDATA[Two attended for smoke inhalation in a fire at the old Palma prison]]>

The left wing of the second floor of the old Palma prison suffered a fire this Wednesday, around 3:50 PM, as a result of which two people required medical attention for smoke inhalation. Several units from the Palma Firefighters, who extinguished the fire, and agents from the Immediate Intervention Unit of the Palma Local Police were dispatched to the scene.

]]> <![CDATA[Two treated for smoke inhalation in a fire at the old prison of Palma]]>

The left wing of the second floor of the old Palma prison suffered a fire this Wednesday, around 3:50 PM, for which two people required medical attention for smoke inhalation. Several units of the Palma Firefighters, who extinguished the fire, as well as agents of the Immediate Intervention Unit of the Local Police of Palma, were dispatched to the scene.

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