The commissioner of the Vitoria Local Police is dismissed four months after her appointment for her “ineffective” management

Vidaurre was appointed commissioner last June to become the first woman in history to lead the Local Police of the capital of Alava. He assumed the position on secondment, waiting for the municipal government to call an internal selection process.

The Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSJPV) ratified a month earlier the ruling that declared void the appointment of the commissioner of the Municipal Police of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Roberto García Tobalinaand agreed with the then deputy commissioner Vidaurre, who reported the situation when she understood that her rights had been violated.

Four months later, the Security Councilor, Iñaki Gurtubai, has argued for the dismissal due to his “absolute lack of suitability to hold the positionlack of ability to lead the organization, tendency to refer work to subordinates, breaking trust with political leaders” and “not meeting the absolute availability required by the position”, among other reasons.

Gurtubai has appeared at his own request before the municipal Security Commission, to inform the opposition about the revocation of the service commission of the Chief Commissioner of the Local Police and explain that “You can’t work with this person any longer.” at the head of the police organization.

The Security Councilor has reasoned his decision in different blocks. As a first reason, he stated that Vidaurre has a «obvious lack of capacity and the necessary skills to involve the organization in its objectives”, as well as “to create a work team and lead the team” of the Municipal Police.

A concrete example of the reasons for his dismissal

As an example, he stated that, from September 23 to 27, two deputy commissioners were working with the commissioner, who “confronted them and they took leave.”

«In a week in which we do not have any deputy commissioner working, Vidaurre considers asking for leave to take care of his brother-in-law, who was admitted to the hospital, and, later, attended a private meeting of the association of Local Police chiefs . That week, the director and this councilor were the only police officers. This is a specific event, but it demonstrates the situation. that there was among the group of managers,” he said, to censure that Vidaurre is “incapable of creating a work team with his team.”

Likewise, he has accused the former commissioner of “having a tendency to divert work to her subordinates.” «So much so that, when subordinates rebel, there are delays in very important operational issues such as service commissions, in which vacancies are filled,” he added.

In this sense, Gurtubai has denounced that “the delays due to the ineffectiveness of the police station” do not allow us to provide a correct service. “Since he was asked to resolve the service commission, it took him a month and a half to process them, causing dysfunctions in the service, which I attribute to his inefficiency in management,” he ruled.

«Total loss of trust»

The Security Councilor has alleged “loss of confidence necessary to work with Vidaurre”, because “their way of working is absolutely autonomous from those responsible” and “creates insecurity for those of us who have to politically direct the Departmentsince we do not know what happens in itself.

In this regard, he stated that the commissioner has called him “once in the four months” that he has held the position, while with the previous commissioner “he spoke about four times a day.” «She believed that being a boss frees you from having to explain yourself.consult and ask for authorization,” he reproached.

As an example, Gurtubai explained that “the commissioner decides on his own, without consulting and without asking for authorization that he is going to get more commissions for deputy commissioner services. We give him the order to cancel them until we analyze their need and he answers in writing that he is not going to pay attention and that the mayor orders it, who was, finally, the one who gave him the order to cancel the commissions.

“As a result of this clash,” he continued, “we had a meeting with the mayor, the councilor, the director of the Department and the commissioner, in which she stated that she did not feel bound by the orders of the councilor and the director.” «The meeting was paralyzed and a report was requested from the legal counsel.who considered that the commissioner is legally bound to our instructions,” he concluded.

On the other hand, he has criticized that the former commissioner gave an order to a deputy commissioner to change the 2023 police report, which was already “approved by the director and councilor of the Department and published on the website.” Specifically, he described that Vidaurre ordered “to change the details of a vacant mayor’s position that she has demanded from the City Council to fill.” «She cannot ask to change one thing, bypassing her hierarchical superiors»Gurtubai has reproached.

After pointing out that, “in this context, there is no professional trust,” the councilor said that it is his responsibility to meet with the neighborhood associations to «to be in contact with society and to know directly its demands»but the commissioner “disobeyed her order” and contacted, through a deputy commissioner, a neighborhood association.