Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez ( Badalona, 1965) is the current

Mossos d'Esquadra The ''Mossos d'Esquadra'' (; en, Squad), also known as the ''Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya'' and informally as ''Mossos'', is the autonomous police force responsible for law enforcement in Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. ...

Major, the highest rank in the Catalan Police. On 28 October 2017, the Spanish government declared him removed from his post, after its invocation of

Article 155 Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

of the Spanish Constitution, suspending Catalonia's autonomy. In 2020, he was restored to his position of Major after being acquitted of wrongdoing by the

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...

. Trapero started his career as a Mosso in 1990 and after years of service he was granted the position of Commissioner in 2013. In 2017, after 26 years of service, he achieved the rank of Major, succeeding Joan Unió.

Biography

Josep Lluís Trapero was born in 1965 in Badalona in a humble family from

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

. During his childhood he lived in the working-class neighbourhood of La Guinardera in

Santa Coloma de Gramanet Santa Coloma de Gramenet () informally simply known as Santa Coloma (in Spanish: Santa Coloma de Gramanet, historically also known as ''Gramenet de Besòs'') is a municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the south-east side of the Ca ...

, close to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. As a child he didn't want to be a police officer, he was more interested in animals and

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. In 1989 he was admitted in the School of Public Security of Catalonia (Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya) where he graduated the following year. In 2006 Trapero graduated in law from the

Open University of Catalonia The Open University of Catalonia ( ca, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC; ) is a private open university based in Barcelona, Spain. The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan, Spanish and English in fields such as Psycholog ...

and later on obtained a postdegree in ''Direction and Management of Public Security''. His fields of specialization are

cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing th ...

, money laundering, and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

financing. In 2012 he travelled to an FBI academy in Quantico,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, where he participated in the Latin American Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar (LALEEDS). As a Mosso d'Esquadra, Trapero has worked in the Basic Police Area in

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

and also in the Office of Complaints of

Vielha Vielha e Mijaran (; ca, Viella – Mitg-Aran ) is a municipality in Aran, Lleida, Spain. It was created in 1970 by the merger of the municipalities of Arròs e Vila, Betlan, Escunhau, Gausac, Vielha and Vilac: some of the former municipalities re ...

. He also was a corporal in the Quatre Camins Prison. Later on, he was deployed in the Investigation Group in

Blanes Blanes () is a town and municipality in the comarca of Selva in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. During Roman rule it was named Blanda or Blandae. It is known as the "Gateway to the Costa Brava". Its coast is part of the Costa Brava, which stretches ...

and

Figueres Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...

, and afterwards he applied what he learnt in different regions of Catalonia. In 2008 he was designated as a Chief of the Division of Criminal Investigation (Divisió d'Investigació Criminal, CGIC). A year later he was promoted to Sub-Chief of the General Criminal Investigation Group (Comissaria General d'Investigació Criminal), and in 2012 he would be promoted again to lead the whole group. Just one year later he would be designated Commissioner of the Mossos d'Esquadra and in 2017 he was given the opportunity to get the position of

Chief of police Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the b ...

, which he accepted. On 4 October 2017, after the Catalan independence referendum of 2017, Trapero was accused by Spanish prosecutors for alleged sedition. He allegedly refused to carry out judicial orders on 1 October 2017. In addition, he is accused of obstructing a police investigation on 20 September 2017. Sedition in Spain carries a maximum sentence for public officials of 15 years in prison. On 16 October 2017 a Spanish prosecutor asked for Josep Lluís Trapero to be jailed. Later that day, a judge would allow Trapero to remain free but withdrew his passport and ordered him to appear in court every two weeks. The court said that this could change if Trapero disobeys the conditions. In April 2018, judge Carmen Lamela closed the instruction and ordered the prosecution of Trapero, Pere Soler and number two of

Joaquim Forn Joaquim Forn i Chiariello (born 1 April 1964) is a Spanish politician and lawyer from Catalonia. A former deputy mayor of the city of Barcelona in north-eastern Spain, Forn served as Minister of the Interior from July 2017 to October 2017 when h ...

, Cèsar Puig, as well as of the mayor Teresa Laplana, charged for sedition. Lamela defenses that Trapero, Soler and Puig were part of a criminal organization led by Carles Puigdemont. In October 2020, he was acquitted by the

. Subsequently, on 12 November 2020, he was restored by the Catalan Minister of Interior Miquel Sàmper to his former post of Major of the Mossos d'Esquadra.

References

External links

Ara (newspaper) interview to Josep Lluís Trapero available on Youtube
(in Catalan) {{DEFAULTSORT:Trapero Álvarez, Josep Lluís Living people People from Catalonia Academic staff of the University of Barcelona Academic staff of the Autonomous University of Barcelona 1965 births Spanish police officers Chiefs of police Spanish politicians convicted of crimes

Biography

See also

References

External links