Order more surveillance on social networks and on the possession of knives, as well as a new classification of these violent groups
MADRID, 22 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry of the Interior has updated the plans and programs against the 600 youth gangs that it has accounted for operating in the whole of Spain and after registering four murders in Madrid so far in 2022, where it is estimated that there may be some 400 active gang members.
This week two instructions have been issued from the Secretary of State for Security in which a new classification of this type of organization is established. In addition, vigilance over the possession of bladed weapons has been reinforced and indications have been given so that the Security Forces can more effectively detect calls for violent actions on social networks.
The instructions complement other measures such as the one presented at the end of 2021 by the Government Delegation in Madrid, which launched the ‘Hispanic operation’ with “a redesign of the police operation” in the region, where figures of some 400 active gang members were given. As of May 11, the police action had left 45,406 identified, 438 arrested, 298 weapons seized and 1,913 drug records raised.
On Thursday, the department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska said in a statement that the data shows a “decreasing trend in criminal activity carried out by young people and minors linked to radical ideology groups”, although it specified that “new dynamics had been generated that influence their violent behaviour, such as hatred and discrimination towards other minority or vulnerable groups”.
Data up to the first half of 2021 from the Ministry of the Interior indicated that the number of youth gangs had remained around 600 since 2019, with a slight upward trend. Specifically, with data up to the middle of last year, it had gone from 595 gangs monitored by the State Security Forces and Bodies in 2019, to a total of 627 in 2021.
Parallel to the reinforcement of recent months, the National Police has indicated that there are no objective data that indicate an increase in the activity of these gangs, “quite the opposite”, while at the same time they pointed out that the effectiveness of resolving incidents crime borders on 100%.
Social concern, however, has increased in recent times due to reports of brawls and murders, in many cases using bladed weapons such as machetes. In Madrid alone there have been four deaths related to settling scores between rival gangs since a 19-year-old boy died on January 1 after being stabbed five times in a confrontation between Dominican Don’t Play and the rival Trinitarios gang, in Sahara Street.
On February 5 there was a murder in Atocha street of a 15-year-old boy and another in Usera of a 25-year-old young man; The last case, on April 27, is that of an 18-year-old boy who was stabbed to death by a dozen young people on a street in the Madrid district of Villaverde.
Faced with this problem, the Interior has approved the updating of the ‘Police Action and Coordination Plan against Violent Youth Groups’ and also the ‘Protocol of action of the State Security Forces and Bodies regarding the control of white weapons and other dangerous instruments for citizen security’.
The objective of the latter is to “unify criteria to control the use of this type of weapon on roads, spaces or public establishments throughout the national territory.” From now on, the actions and seizure of the weapons must be perfectly documented, whether it is the commission of a crime or an administrative infraction.
The protocol also determines the information that must be recorded in both cases. The agents will collect the action of the person responsible, the damages caused to citizen security, the environment in which the events take place, as well as the characteristics of the weapon and related images.
The data up to mid-2021 indicate that, only among those classified by the police as “reference groups”, there are nine extreme right, five extreme left, seven Latin gangs and one related to another typology such as violence in sports. Regarding those known as “independent groups”, there are 46 from the extreme right and another 43 from the extreme left, as well as 15 Latin gangs.
In addition, among those classified as “subordinate” the figure of 334 gangs related to the extreme left stands out, compared to 27 from the extreme right, as well as 65 Latino gangs and 75 related to violence in sports and other types. The now updated ‘Police Action and Coordination Plan against Organized and Violent Youth Groups’ has been in force since 2014.
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