Commissioner Ferran López (59 years old), who already replaced Josep Lluis Trapero as head of the Mossos d’Esquadra during the 155 stage (2017-18), will replace him again but this time as the general director of the force following the major’s resignation.
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Born in Madrid on November 16, 1966, and raised in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, López joined the Mossos d’Esquadra in 1989 and has more than three decades of experience within the force.
Throughout his career, he has held responsibilities in operational areas, coordination, and command, and was from escort to the former Interior Minister Xavier Pomés to one of the members of the first promotion of the Special Operations Group (GEI). Later, he held, among others, the responsibilities of head of the Hospitalet de Llobregat police station, which he launched, head of the Metropolitan South Police Region, and operational coordinator of the Police. He has also been head of the Superior Coordination Central Police Station and head of the Superior Territorial Coordination Police Station.
Article 155
López was appointed as chief commissioner of the Mossos d’Esquadra by the then Interior Minister, the popular Juan Ignacio Zoido, when on October 28, 2017, the application of article 155 of the Constitution, which entailed the intervention of the Generalitat by the Government of Mariano Rajoy following the declaration of independence, led to Trapero’s dismissal. Trapero’s then number two was well received by the commanders who saw him as a continuation of the work carried out and not as an interference in the functions and autonomy of the force.
López resigned on June 14, 2018, once the Generalitat Government was restored with the investiture of Quim Torra and the application of said article ended. The then Interior Minister, Miquel Buch, accepted his resignation. His successor as chief commissioner was Commissioner Miquel Esquius, who was appointed a few days later.
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Trial of Trapero
Between 2018 and 2020, he was head of the force’s Headquarters, and in the trial of Trapero and the Interior leadership held at the National Court in early 2020, Ferran López played a key role as a defense witness who achieved the major’s acquittal.
His testimony was decisive in reinforcing and endorsing Trapero’s version by assuming as his own the operational decisions made by the Mossos d’Esquadra leadership during September and October 2017, confirming Trapero’s version about the meetings held with the Government before October 1, where the police leadership warned of the risk of public disorder and asked to comply with judicial mandates, and defending the police deployment designed for the referendum day and compliance with judicial orders, emphasizing the willingness to collaborate with other State security forces.
Between 2021 and 2022, he was director of operations and security at FC Barcelona, signed by Joan Laporta shortly after his election as club president in his second term. Since 2023, López was in charge of the Mossos d’Esquadra delegation in Madrid and was a member of the Headquarters.
Ferran López has an extensive and specialized academic background linked to public security, administration management, and leadership. His training includes the Executive Master in Public Administration from ESADE (2017-2019), the Advanced Course in Public Security Management and Coordination from the Ortega y Gasset University (2010-2011), and the Advanced Program in Public Security Management for the Catalonia Public Administration School (2007), as well as the National Defense Course at CESEDEN, which he completed in 2025. His education is complemented by a Degree in Education Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1994-1998), shaping a solid and specialized academic profile aimed at performing high-responsibility functions in security and public management fields.
He was a football player at Damm and CD Masnou.
