Velez-Malaga police chief dismissed after a vote of no confidence

THE CHIEF of Local Police for Velez-Malaga has been dismissed following a vote of no confidence by councillors.

Esteban Torres Garcia has had to take responsibility for the actions of his officers in an incident early in February.

Leading councillor and spokesman for the Partido Popular (PP), Francisco Delgado Bonilla, was involved in a car accident in the early hours of the morning.

Following the collision, the driver of the other car involved was breathalysed but Delgado Bonilla was not.

The other driver was then found to be over the drink drive limit.

When the incident became public, an investigation was started into why officers had not tested Delgado Bonilla.

The report, published earlier this week, concluded the behaviour of the officers was ‘correct, faultless, adjusted to law and congruent.’

The officers on patrol maintained that the politician did not show any signs of being under the influence of alcohol and was not therefore tested.

But a number of councillors, including the mayor of Velez-Malaga, Antonio Moreno Ferrer, from the PSOE, claim the decision not to test Delgado Bonilla damaged the integrity of the police-councillor relationship.

This amounted to a loss of confidence on the part of the ruling coalition in Garcia, he said, and the chief of police has now been removed from office.

But the decision has angered the leadership of the PP who claim Garcia’s dismissal “is due to a campaign of political revenge against the politician and the PP.”

Garcia will be replaced by the area’s most senior police officer, Andres Montoya de Hombre.