Specific police and civil guard units for the persecution of the hate crimes will be disseminated throughout the territory, within the framework of a new action plan against a phenomenon that “attacks the very heart of our democracy & rdquor;.
The comment is from the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who this Tuesday, at a press conference held after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, announced the entry into force as of this week of the second Fight Plan Against Hate Crimes and Discriminatory Conduct.
The plan will be in force until the end of 2024, and develops 86 measures to “prevent, detect, investigate and stop hate crimes & rdquor ;, explained the head of the Interior.
specialized police
Chief among these measures is the creation of “specific groups” in the General Information Police Station and its provincial brigades, as well as in the Information Headquarters of the Civil Guard and its peripheral units.
Groups specialized in hate crimes will handle tools as an indicator of risk
These specific groups will be distributed throughout the Spanish territory, according to Grande-Marlaska, and will work with tools as a risk indicator.
Hate crimes and discrimination have increased significantly in Spain in the five years between 2016 and 2021: 41%. In 2016, 1,272 complaints were addressed, and in 2021 1,802 cases were investigated.
And yet they are far from all that occur. One of the objectives sought by the Interior is “to reduce the underreporting phenomenon&rdquor ;, assured the minister, who has provided the data that eight out of ten of these crimes are not reported. The objective of the plan is that the victim who suffers discriminatory, humiliating, violent or coercive attacks based on her social or personal condition is not left without requesting and obtaining protection from State Security. Grande-Marlaska has said that he tries to “prevent these behaviors that attack us all are left without the necessary punishment & rdquor ;.
Account Access
In this Council of Ministers, the Interior has introduced two initiatives on the legislative agenda, in addition to this police operational plan.
The ministry has sent to the Cortes for parliamentary processing a draft organic law that will give the Security Forces access to the centralized registry of bank accounts and payments, the Financial Ownership File (FTF) managed by the Executive Service for the Prevention of Money Laundering (SEPBLAC), which reports to the Ministry of Economy.
With this new law, police investigators will be able to look at accounts… with the limitations of “prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution & rdquor ;, Marlaska has said, of crimes commonly typical of the organized crime.
In addition, the minister has announced a Royal Decree that modifies the Penitentiary Regulations in an issue that proved key during confinement due to covid, a particularly delicate moment in prisons. It is about prisoners’ access to information technologies to that can hold video calls with their families and loved ones.
The measure seeks to provide incarcerated people with “the joint exercise of all their rights,” said the Minister of the Interior.