After the news broke over a week ago that a Palma police officer was renting out storage rooms as illegal living accommodation, some obvious questions were being asked. One was how long this had all been going on.
An indication as to the answer dates back fourteen years. In 2009, the mayor of Palma was Aina Calvo of PSOE, who currently heads the Spanish government's delegation in the Balearics. In February of that year, the town hall launched an unprecedented investigation. Private detectives were hired to spy on police officers.
Investigations of this kind had been undertaken on the mainland but never in the Balearics. The justification for the Palma investigation was the level of absenteeism in the police force. The suspicion was that officers were moonlighting while being paid sick leave, some of which was for long-term absence.
Around twenty members of the force were investigated. Included among them was the officer who was arrested by the National Police the week before last.
Reports prepared by the private detectives were thorough. They were supported by photographs and videos as well as documentation related to businesses and to contracts which showed that officers had been hired or were indeed running businesses. There was "irrefutable" evidence that labour fraud was being committed. Under the law known as 'incompatibilities', Palma officers were expressly prohibited from having "parallel work activities" to their jobs as officers.
Specific to the arrest, those reports from 2009 referred to the officer having been renting out substandard storage rooms and basements to foreigners who were not legally registered in Spain.
What happened as a result of the investigation? Nothing. It is claimed that "great pressure" was exerted to prevent action being taken against the officers. From where? That's another question.