The Cabanes City Council will install a license plate reader camera at one of the entrances to the municipality after the Mossos d'Esquadra have received eight reports of robberies since January. The measure is part of the Lectio project and comes as the police continue an investigation into incidents attributed to organized gangs.
The public pressure due to the increase in robberies coincides with the council's rejection of reinforcing surveillance with its own personnel or shared with other towns. In two of the reported cases, the thieves allegedly entered homes while the tenants were inside, a fact that has increased concern in a small town.
The Mossos deployed uniformed and plainclothes patrols in Cabanes
The specific police operation includes the presence of uniformed and plainclothes officers. The investigation remains with the Mossos d'Esquadra, who are working on the hypothesis that the robberies are the work of organized groups.
Since January, the police have recorded eight reports in Cabanes. Two of these incidents affected homes that were occupied by their residents at the time, although the available data does not provide further details about these assaults.
In recent weeks, there have been no new robberies in the municipality. The mayor, Núria Campdelacreu, has said she hopes the situation will normalize soon.
The mayor rules out guards and links the response to the Lectio project
The council is about to contract the company that will install the camera, a device that already has police authorization and whose data will be managed by the Mossos d'Esquadra themselves. Campdelacreu has framed the action within the Lectio project, with which the police aim to extend license plate readers throughout the region.
"The intention is for the device to act as a deterrent" - Núria Campdelacreu, mayor of Cabanes, Cabanes City Council
The mayor has also rejected the opposition's proposal to hire municipal guards or to share this service with neighboring municipalities such as Peralada. Campdelacreu maintains that this option does not fit the council's capacity.
"It is not affordable for a municipality like ours" - Núria Campdelacreu, mayor of Cabanes, Cabanes City Council
The deployment planned in Cabanes is part of a broader plan by the Mossos d'Esquadra to install license plate reader cameras in practically all municipalities in l'Alt Empordà. Figueres and La Jonquera are excluded from this plan because they already have these systems.
In addition to the checkpoint that Cabanes is preparing, the Consell Comarcal plans to soon tender the project so that each municipality can then purchase the devices with which to control the network of secondary roads.