International police information ‘does not flow’ from Spain to Catalonia

It’s been 11 days since the terror attacks that hit Barcelona and Cambrils, with the death toll rising to 16 after a German woman who had been critically injured died in the hospital on Sunday. Meanwhile, the controversy continues between the Catalan and Spanish police departments over who had information that could have helped to prevent the attacks.

When international police departments communicate with Spanish law enforcement agencies (which also include Catalonia’s national police, Mossos d’Esquadra), part of the information they provide does not “flow” properly, the Catalan police chief, Josep Lluís Trapero, said on Monday. According to him, information enters through “a little window controlled by the Spanish police,” and some of these details are not dutifully sent to Catalonia’s Mossos.

Unlike other regional police bodies in Spain, like the Ertzaintza in the Basque Country, Mossos do not have direct contacts with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), despite this being a long-standing demand from Catalan authorities.

Dismissing previous remarks by the Spanish government delegate in Catalonia, who promised that Catalan police would have direct access to Europol starting in September, Spanish President Mariano Rajoy said on Friday that this is not an issue to be debated now.