Gillian Keller
THE NEW Police Commissioner of the Balearic Islands took office this week with a pledge to crack down on domestic abuse and gender violence.
The get-tough stance comes after Palma mother-of-four Sacramento Roca was murdered just four days after denouncing her ex-boyfriend to police for harassment and aggression.
Outlining his priorities in his first statement as Police Chief, Gonzalo Espino Cruz promised ‘greater coordination, immediate responses and continuity for a comprehensive treatment of domestic, gender and sexual violence’ while ‘seeking to reduce second-time victims’.
Commissioner Espino also mapped out his other basic goals for the Balearics: citizen security, improving the quality of life on the islands, improving cooperation with other police forces, cracking down on small-scale drug trafficking and fighting organised crime.
Government delegate Rosario Sánchez highlighted the ‘excellent team of professionals’ in the police force, and was impressed with the new chief of police’s stance on gender violence ‘from the first moment’.
Sánchez also pointed out the ‘special needs’ of the Balearics, essentially a tourist community, in which ‘prosperity depends on security as a family destination’.
