Catalan police investigate 332 bullying cases since 2019 but warn of unreported incidents
Mossos d’Esquadra are promoting a new anti-bullying campaign, as most incidences occur in schools
The Catalan police will give new workshops in schools to raise awareness, prevent, and detect cases of bullying.
The aim is to provide primary and secondary school students with the tools to break the silence that often prevails.
Since 2019 and up to September of this year, the Mossos d’Esquadra Catalan police force have investigated 332 cases of bullying or harassment.
The head of the central unit for citizen care, sergeant Guillem Goset, acknowledges this is not a very high figure, but points out that the impact each case generates both on the victim and among their peers.
In addition, Goset has also warned of a large number of unrecorded cases that need to be brought to light.
The most common crimes that occur in situations of bullying are injuries, threats, and harassment, representing 66.7% of the reported cases.
Sergeant Goset stated that one of the main characteristics of bullying is that the victims have difficulty getting out of the situation.
He points out that harassment is not a crime in itself, but is a situation that can often create the conditions for criminal acts, such as injuries, threats or coercion.
For this reason, the Catalan police say they aim to be an accompaniment to victims from the beginning to the end of the cases.
Youths seek to break silence
The workshops put on by the Catalan police aim to teach people to prevent these behaviours, breaking the silence, and make it clear that people can no longer do nothing after they have witnessed such incidents.
In fact, the Mossos say that the role of observers is key to bringing the cases to light.
Goset acknowledges that children nowadays have more knowledge about bullying, although many times it is still teachers who warn of the cases.
Most incidents of bullying takes place in schools and high schools, while many also occur in open spaces or on the street.
Others also take place in the home, or through social networks or messaging platforms on the internet.
Goset explained that there is no purely face-to-face or purely online harassment, but that usually a situation that occurs in the classroom continues in digital spaces.