(Andujar, Jaen) On the 14th of September 2009, the Policia Nacional in Andújar received a new boss, Jose Mariano Olivares. The Chief of the provincial headquarters had personally appointed him, which raised more than a few eyebrows. Two years down the line and the Andújar police station is a time bomb waiting to detonate.

Consequently, there are several ‘denuncias’ working their way through the judicial system, lodged by the police unions UFP and SUP against the station head and Daniel Salgado, who is the provincial head. The SUP has denounced sabotage of police equipment and installations, as well as ‘mafia-like behaviour.’

So what happened? Well, according to he UFP, they were in a meeting with the provincial police head when the phone rang. On the other end of the line was the newly appointed chief of the Andújar station. He pointed out that as soon as he lifted his telephone receiver – before even dialling a number – he could hear everything that was going on in the meeting. And that’s not all, because anybody in the whole town that cared to lift their receiver could hear the same…

The provincial chief immediately accused the police union of rigging the phones. He also immediately demanded all present to pull their mobiles out and leave them on the table.

Things weren’t going very well, but only got worse a day or so later when somebody anonymously denounced the provincial police chief for misusing an official car. The law court provisionally shelved the denuncia but the SUP then provided more evidence so that the case could be reopened.
Furthermore, eight months previously, the UFP had received recordings in their Madrid offices of conversations between the Andújar police chief and other persons, which was interpreted by the union as a breach of privacy.

Well, just to add salt to the wound, the SUP posted on their web page the following comment: Since Sr Olivares took office their have been more meals charged for those arrested in the police cells than the actual number of people arrested. They also mentioned that vehicles have broken down in the most mysterious of circumstances. The police chiefs hard drive went missing and mysteriously turned up in the post at the union’s offices. They handed it over to the provincial head, who declared that there was nothing on it of an incriminating nature, handing it back to Olivares, without even opening an investigation into how it was removed from the computer and ended up in the morning’s mail.

To-date, the provincial police chief has refused to make any comment to the press, saying that the affair is in a judges hands.

(News: Andujar, Jaen, Andalucia)