Spain: police & security agencies
01 January 1991
Spain: police & security agencies
bacdoc July=1995
The information in this country file was first published in the
handbook "Statewatching the new Europe" (November 1993). It was
compiled by Peter Klerks and extracted from a longer report which
is available from: The Domestic Security Research Foundation, PO
Box 11178, 1001 GD, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Spain
504,750 km², 39,384,516 inhabitants
Long-form name: Kingdom of Spain
Type: parliamentary monarchy
Capital: Madrid
Administrative divisions: 17 autonomous communities (comunidades
autonomas, singular--comunidad autonoma) and five places of
sovereignty on and off the coast of Morocco with administrative
status unknown
Constitution: 6 December 1978, effective 29 December 1978
Legal system: civil law system, with regional applications, does
not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Executive branch: monarch, president of the government (prime
minister), deputy prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet),
Council of State
Legislative branch: bicameral The General Courts or National
Assembly (Las Cortes Generales) consists of an upper house or
Senate (Senado) and a lower house or Congress of Deputies
(Congreso de los Diputados)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo)
I. POLICE STRUCTURES & forces
Total no. of police officers (1992 estimate): 149,000 (70,000
Policía Nacional, 64,000 Guardia Civil. Policía Municipal and
Autonomous Police unknown but estimated to be around 15,000.
Women in the police: In 1989, about 150 women inspectors and 350
regular police officers were employed in the National Police;
together they made up circa 0.7% of the total force. No. of
police officers per 100,000 inhabitants: 378 (EC av. 338)
Under the 1986 Constitutional Law, there are two police forces
with a nation-wide jurisdiction, the Guardia Civil and the Cuerpo
Nacional de Policía (CNP): the former covers rural areas and
small towns; the latter the provincial capitals and urban areas.
Besides the normal police duties it has riot control units. While
a civilian organisation, its style and structure bear many
similarities to the military.
The Guardia Civiles live in barracks with their families.
Their main operational unit (the provincial HQ) is the
Comandancia, totalling 56, and the Puesto (a detachment),
commanded by an NCO. There are about 3,000 Puestos covering all
the rural areas. The Guardia's tasks include preventing
smuggling, guarding state buildings and institutions, enforcing
laws on arms and explosives, transporting prisoners and
patrolling main roads. It has separate crowd control and
intelligence units as well as a Judiciary Police Service for
criminal investigations.
While at the service of the Interior Ministry (for policing),
the Ministry of Justice (for criminal investigations) and the
Ministry of Defence (for military purposes) the Guardia can be
considered a military corps. The Ministry of the Interior is its
main funder, but its internal regulations have to be agreed with
the Ministry of Defence, giving it considerable autonomy in
practice. Although no trade union activities are allowed formally
in the Guardia, a quasi-clandestine grassroots United Syndicat
of the Civil Guard (SUGC) reportedly has a growing influence on
democratising and demilitarising the corps.
The 17 `Autonomous' police forces have jurisdiction in the
`Autonomous Communities' to which they belong. Under the
direction of the Autonomous Authorities they are responsible for
guarding and preserving public order. Coordination and
cooperation with the national police forces is laid down by
Councils of Security under the direction of the Minister of the
Interior. Provincial capitals and larger towns usually have a
Policía Municipal (PM) responsible to and recruited by the local
government. Its main functions are enforcing municipal laws and
traffic control, and it is normally unarmed.
O