Palma is one of Spain´s top five crime spots

Police chiefs in Madrid yesterday announced that the new crack down on crime is to be launched “immediately” in areas of escalating crime, such as Palma. Yesterday the Police Director General, Agustín Díaz de Mera, called all the regional national police chiefs together for crisis talks in Madrid to discuss how the new anti-crime plan can be immediately launched in crime black spots. As reported yesterday, Palma city council is still expected to produce a crime blueprint as quickly as possible to help the police pin point areas of the municipality which will require extra resources and special attention. The full co-operation of the local authorities and police forces in the target areas is expected with a full sharing of equipment, information and facilities in order to ensure that the war on crime is as effective as possible. The services of all the various police departments and security services, such as immigration, customs, narcotics and terrorism will all be brought together under the new anti-crime plan and measures are expected to be taken to fast track certain judicial processes to ease the burden on the courts and reduce the amount of police time spent on paperwork. Palma local police, for example, has to now draw up a list of crime black spots and also key periods of the day when the crime rate rises. Palma is one of five cities which has been singled out for immediate attention along with Madrid, Valencia, Seville and Zaragoza. Gradually the remaining five crime black spots in Spain will be incorporated in the rapid reaction plan. Police chiefs in Madrid yesterday hinted that Palma could receive more than the 300 extra police promised by the Home Secretary last week. This year 4.274 new National Police men and women are being recruited and over the next three years the force will take on nearly 13'000 new recruits. The new “focus” plan will also include tougher measures in the war against organised crime and drug trafficking with greater police presence at ports of entry and the close monitoring of “hot flights,” which the police have dubbed flights arriving from South America and other countries from where drugs originate. The mounted police and canine units are to be given much greater roles with the crime investigation service and forensic department receiving more human resources and facilities. The immigration department has been ordered to make sure that all expulsion orders are complied with within the designated time frame, to step up controls of illegal immigrants, in particular prostitution and the illegal trafficking of humans from Eastern Europe and Nigeria, which is becoming a major problem in some of the big Spanish cities. Two weeks ago an investigative television programme revealed how easy it is to “purchase” women in Nigeria and exposed how they are smuggled into Spain and then forced to work as prostitutes to cover their travel costs.