The week that was

The rotten apple theory

The US National Criminal Justice Reference Service published a paper in 1999 which sought to distinguish between the rotten apple and the rotten barrel. “Sociopathic Police Personality: Is it a product of the rotten apple or the rotten barrel?” was the title of the paper. The rotten barrel theory holds that stressful conditions of police occupation constitute a primary risk factor for police misconduct. The rotten apple theory has traditionally had it that “deviant police officers” are rotten when they are hired. The paper distinguishes between primary and secondary sociopathic behaviours. Primary means a predisposition to anti-social behaviour. Secondary refers to police sub-cultural norms, peer influence and economic factors. “The environment in which police officers work offers unlimited opportunities for corruption and deceit, and these environmental (secondary) factors may lead to sociopathic behaviour.”
Núria Riera, the regional government spokesperson, said of the police corruption allegations which surfaced last week in Magalluf that they correspond to individuals not to institutions. It was her take on the rotten apple theory and it was one which you would have expected her to take. It is something of a standard response, but the implications of the US research suggest that it is too glib a response.
Though the investigations into what may or may not have been occurring in Magalluf remain highly secret, evidence has been leaking out. The tentacles of the investigations have branched out to other police forces. They are taking on a life of their own, growing organically as the anti-corruption prosecutors throw on more fertiliser. They may spread wider still. Who might they ensnare?
Whatever the outcome of the investigations, one thing is for certain. The genie is out of the bottle and it won’t be put back again with ease. Level corruption allegations at members of a police force and they are not forgotten. The mere detention of the Chief of the Police Navarro (the Knackero of the Calvia Yard) has changed everything. The anti-corruption prosecutors may do it anyway but, in addition, there are grounds for believing that there should be a separate investigation, one which addresses the types of environmental factor that the US research referred to. I am neither accusing nor defending, but there has to be a nuanced understanding as to how such allegations can arise in the first place, an understanding of the pressures and stresses on a local police force (or individuals within it). A result of this sorry affair might be some honesty, some acceptance of how certain police officers might be corrupted. Not because they are necessarily innately corrupt (the traditional rotten apples) but because they can be made to be so. And who is it and what is it that might make them so? These are questions which need answering.

The upside down minister

Núria Riera, when not offering the government’s view on the corruption allegations, was making it clear that the education ministry is going to be acting “forcefully” in ensuring that TIL (trilingual teaching) is applied from the start of the new school year. What forcefulness is the ministry proposing? Will it be sending in the army if there is non-compliance?
With the teachers set to strike on 15 September, the regional headmistress, Joana Camps, refused to let the Assemblea de Docents (teachers’ assembly) be a part of discussions regarding the provision of minimum services. Having previously said that the Assemblea was not a “valid interlocutor”, Joana now finds herself being described in the same terms. As far as the Assemblea is concerned, Joana is no longer a “valid interlocutor for the teaching community”. Education minister she may be, but poor old Joana, so says the Assemblea, is no longer someone to be talked to and is also now responsible for not one, not two, but three cuts - economic (less money for teachers and for schools), cultural (all the TIL/Catalan carry-on) and democratic (the interlocutor bit). As a way of expressing its dissatisfaction with Joana, the Assemblea is planning on sending out posters to schools next week which show Joana upside down. Which all sounds like a jolly good wheeze and will no doubt appeal to the juvenile humour of juveniles who are supposed to be receiving some schooling. It’s nice to know that the Assemblea is in touch with the kids.

A lesbian affair

Hazte Oir are a weird old bunch. Four years ago they were to the fore in demanding that the regional government took action to ban topless sunbathing. Behind policies that support the family exists an organisation some distance to the right. Their Balearic wing was at it again last week, insisting that the current regional government’s minister for the family and social services, Sandra Fernández, should resign. What had Sandra done wrong? Well nothing, but to the eyes and ears of Hazte Oir, she most certainly had. She had gone and been present in an official capacity at “Ella, International Lesbian Festival” in Palma, which finishes today. Hazte Oir reckoned that it was surprising that a minister for the family should attend an event at which “the woman is exposed as a sexually oriented business object”. Whatever.
This is an organisation which was also recently critical of the gathering of gay men’s choruses in Andratx and of official government support for a repeat gathering next year. One of its fellow travellers on the family right-wing is the Balearics Institute of Family Policy, which joined forces with Hazte Oir over the topless affair. It also, you may just recall, was the body which denounced a video promoting gay tourism to Ibiza earlier this year. As I reported in my tourism week column on Friday, gay tourism to the Balearics is up by 25% this year, which will be a fact to horrify Hazte Oir and the others. And Lord alone knows what they make of the popularity of the nudist hotel in Colonia Sant Pere. Avert your eyes! Avert your eyes!

Guardiola and independence

While central funding for the Balearics continues to be a bone of contention, Catalonia, so national finance minister Montoro announced, is in line to receive an additional 1,700 milion in 2015. This is the Catalonia which is heading towards a vote on independence, one that was largely caused by Catalonian dissatisfaction with its part of the funding cake.
Is this increase for 2015 a way of attempting to scupper the independence referendum? Maybe so, but the supporters of independence received a boost last week. They don’t get much more celebrity than Pep Guardiola, and he defended the referendum last week. Pep has form in this regard.
There is a YouTube video in which he declares that Catalonia is his country.