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Spain The National Police Corps
The 1986 organic law unifying the separate uniformed
and
plainclothes branches of the national police was a major
reform
that required a considerable period of time to be brought
into
full effect. The former plainclothes service, known as the
Higher
Police Corps, but often referred to as the "secret
police,"
consisted of some 9,000 officers. Prior to 1986, it had a
supervisory and coordinating role in police operations,
conducted
domestic surveillance, collected intelligence,
investigated major
crimes, issued identity documents, and carried out liaison
with
foreign police forces.
The uniformed service was a completely separate
organization
with a complement of about 50,000 officers, including a
small
number of female recruits who were first accepted for
training in
1984. The Director General of the National Police Corps, a
senior
official of the Ministry of Interior, commanded 13
regional
headquarters, 50 provincial offices, and about 190
municipal
police stations. In the nine largest cities, several
district
police stations served separate sections of the city. The
chief
of police of each station was in command of both the
uniformed
and the plainclothes officers attached to the station. A
centrally controlled Special Operations Group (Grupo
Especial de
Operaciones--GEO) was an elite fighting unit trained to
deal with
terrorist and hostage situations.
The principal weapons regularly used by the uniformed
police
were 9mm pistols, 9mm submachine guns, CETME and NATO
7.62mm
rifles, and various forms of riot equipment. The uniform
consisted of light brown trousers and dark brown jackets.
The initial training phase for recruits to the National
Police Corps was nine months, followed by a year of
practical
training. Promotions to corporal, sergeant, and sergeant
major
were based on seniority, additional training, and
performance. In
the Franco era, most police officers were seconded from
the army.
Under a 1978 law, future police officers were to receive
separate
training, and army officers detailed to the police were to
be
permanently transferred. By 1986 only 170 army officers
remained
in the National Police Corps. Under the 1986 organic law,
military-type training for police was to be terminated,
and all
candidate officers were to attend the Higher Police School
at
Ávila, which previously had served as the three-year
training
center for the Higher Police Corps. The ranks of the
plainclothes
corps--commissioners, subcommissioners, and inspectors of
first,
second, and third class--were to be assimilated into the
ranking
system of the uniformed police--colonel, lieutenant
colonel,
major, captain, and lieutenant. Two lower categories
--subinspection and basic--would include all nonofficer
uniformed
personnel. The newly unified National Police Corps was to
be
responsible for issuing identity cards and passports, as
well as
for immigration and deportation controls, refugees,
extradition,
deportation, gambling controls, drugs, and supervision of
private
security forces.
Franco's Armed and Traffic Police had once been dreaded
as
one of the most familiar symbols of the regime's
oppressiveness.
During the 1980s, however, the police effected an internal
transformation, adopting wholeheartedly the new democratic
spirit
of the times. The police unwaveringly supported the
legally
constituted government during the 1981 coup attempt. Led
by the
new police trade union, the police demonstrated in 1985
against
right-wing militants in their ranks and cooperated in
efforts to
punish misconduct and abuses of civil rights by individual
officers.
Data as of December 1988
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