The Mossos d’Esquadra have arrested 470 repeat offenders since they activated the Kanpai plan six months ago, which has made it possible to x-ray this phenomenon throughout Catalonia, where they estimate that 3,969 active criminals at risk of persistence currently operate. This was announced in a press conference by the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon; the director of the Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, and the chief commissioner of the Mossos, Miquel Esquius, who ensured that the Kanpai plan “It is here to stay,” as it has been a “successful strategy” that has improved police resolve on multiple recidivism and citizens’ perception of impunity.
By extending the fight against repeat offenders beyond Barcelona and the metropolitan areas, the Mossos have established a new concept to define repeat offenders: if until now there were 830 of them with the criterion of having accumulated seven thefts or robberies by force or five thefts or robberies and one violent one, now, taking into account the reality of the territory, there are 3,969 of them, with at least two thefts or robberies in the last six months and a history accumulated in two years.
In the six months of the Kapai plan, the Mossos, in collaboration with other police forces, carried out 135 bombings in 28 cities, in which they arrested 470 people – for a total of more than 4,000 cards -, more than 24,000 identified – with more than 53,000 cards -, more than 180 investigated – with a thousand cards – and recovered more than 2,000 stolen cell phones.
The new paradigm used by the Mossos to visualize this phenomenon in smaller municipalities has made it possible to identify 3,969 active criminals at risk of persistence (DARP) throughout Catalonia: 78% operate in the metropolitan area and 22% in the rest of Catalonia. Trapero explained that with the criteria used in Barcelona and its metropolitan area, with 830 repeat offenders accumulating 33.9% of crimes, their presence cannot be counted in smaller centers, where minor but repetitive activities also cause “social alarm”.
In the provisions of the Kanpai plan, the Mossos have also found that there is no great mobility of multiple repeat offenders, since they tend to act in a “fairly fixed” way in their territorial area, which is why, in this area, there have been “very few” arrests or identifications of the same person in different parts of Catalonia, according to Trapero. Parlon stressed that the Kanpai plan was designed to “deter” the commission of crimes, with the goal that repeat offenders “think” before acting and learn that they no longer have “impunity.”
Parlon insisted on his positive assessment of the Kanpai plan, sending a message to repeat offenders that they “cannot wander Catalonia with impunity”. Operations deployed at Barcelona airport have managed to reduce thefts and robberies from 1,000 to 200 in just a few months.
For this reason Parlon insisted on the fact that the Kanpai plan “is destined to stay” and expand: proof of this, he explained, is that in the meetings on local security in which the mayors participate, they ask him to also bring it to their municipalities. The Kanpai plan, according to the councilor, has meant a change, since if until now the Mossos mainly focused on the protection of people and property, they now “place emphasis” also on multi-resident criminals.
“We declare war on crime, but also on hoaxes”, said the socialist councilor, specifying that there is “zero tolerance” towards repeat offenders, towards “hoaxes” and towards those who try to create “perverse associations” between immigrants and crime. Parlon explained that the nationality of repeat offenders is not specified following the guidelines of the code of ethics of the College of Journalists of Catalonia: “The important thing is not that they are men or women, or their weight, whether they are married or single, but that they are repeat offenders.”
In this sense, Trapero announced that when they present the criminal budget of Catalonia in January they will do a more contextualized analysis on the specific criminal typologies and the profile of the criminal majority in each case, so as not to focus on nationality but above all on their living conditions. Trapero also added that, looking to the future, the Mossos are evaluating the possibility of promoting more prevention operations in the Kanpai plan and of strengthening the judicial persecution of repeat offenders, betting among other things on the strategy of additional sanctions or on precautionary measures such as restrictive orders in the area in which they operate.
