"Operation Summer" in Playa de Palma has concluded with the National Police having made 426 arrests and placed a further 265 people under investigation.
These figures are up notably compared with recent years and are a reflection of more intensive police activity at weekends and at night. The great majority of offences have occurred at night, many of them on the beach itself. They include 149 thefts, 36 cases of violence towards or sexual assault of women, 34 cases of robbery with violence, 30 drug-dealing offences, 28 cases of causing injury, and 28 of damage to property. In terms of nationality, 136 of those arrested were Spanish. There were some fifty arrests of both Romanians and Senegalese and forty Germans.
Over the summer the police's Alpha Team, a unit for fighting organised crime, broke up several gangs, but much police time was spent dealing with petty crime. On average there were forty reports of theft each day. In many instances where arrests were made, petty criminals went before a court and were released a few hours later. These are court decisions which rarely sit well with the police.