"Few things are as illustrative of the evil, cruelty, and degeneration that sometimes occurs in the human race as the exercise of violence and humiliation of someone in a position of inferiority and ...
"Few things are as illustrative of the evil, cruelty, and degeneration that sometimes occurs in the human race as the exercise of violence and humiliation of someone in a position of inferiority and deprived of the possibility of defense. It is one of the most serious criminal manifestations in a State of Law." The Provincial Court of Las Palmas stated with such forcefulness two years ago, in a ruling that condemned two National Police officers for the illegal detention of a person in 2005. According to the ruling, they caused injuries, attacked his moral integrity with insults and humiliations in the Police Station, and then falsified the report, presenting themselves as the aggressors.
Now, a new scandal splashes this police force. The story of the two brothers who claim to have been victims of a brutal beating in the cells and parking lots of the Police Station would seem totally unbelievable if it were not because, for the moment, five agents have been arrested. Something that reflects that the judge investigating the case has found indications of truth in the complaint filed by these two young men, with obvious signs of serious injuries.
Obviously, the agents have the right to the presumption of innocence and it will be the conclusion of this judicial process that determines what happened, but, in light of other terrible episodes that have already been experienced in this same Police Station, it is inadmissible that lessons have not been learned from the mistakes.
And it is that, regardless of the fact that we will still have to wait for the results of the trial, the reaction of the Police Headquarters and in particular of the Arrecife commissioner, Federico Teodoro Pérez, are insultingly insufficient. In fact, days after the complaint was filed by the two allegedly assaulted young men, the police officers involved were still in their jobs. And after their arrest, only two have been suspended.
And all this, with a shameful official silence, which has only been broken with a press release, sent many days after the complaint was filed, and when the issue, including the arrests of the agents, had already appeared on the covers of many media outlets.
But despite that delay in giving answers, in the statement they affirmed that they had proceeded to the "urgent" initiation of formal disciplinary proceedings. On the part of the commissioner, not a single official word, not a single gesture to guarantee that the agents who go out on the streets to ensure the safety of citizens cannot become the opposite.
He may or may not believe in the innocence of his colleagues, but his obligation is to take the appropriate measures, even if only as a precaution, in the face of any minimal doubt, suspicion or complaint. Because otherwise, it contributes to damaging not the image of two, three or five agents, but of an entire body.
In that judicial ruling of January 2008, not only were two police officers condemned, but also the magistrates showed their conviction that many agents lied during the trial to protect their colleagues.
The result of this trial, which was a real blow to the agents involved (both those who committed the crime and those who looked the other way while the events were happening), should have served as a real lesson to banish aberrations of this caliber from an institution that should be a reference and a guarantee of the safety of citizens.
Obviously, an entire group, whether police, political or of any kind, cannot be judged for what some of its members do, but the reality is that if instead of distancing themselves from them, they are protected and supported, it is difficult for the whole not to be affected.
In that ruling that condemned two police officers in 2008, the cover-up carried out by the rest of the agents was harshly questioned, although it was also highlighted that there were police officers who constituted "honorable exceptions" and who were key to being able to issue that ruling. Now, they have the opportunity to demonstrate that what is "honorable" is not something exceptional.
