|
Spain Other Police Forces
Although their powers were, in most cases, quite
limited, the
local police services of individual towns and cities
supplemented
the work of the National Police Corps, dealing with such
matters
as traffic, parking, monitoring public demonstrations,
guarding
municipal buildings, and enforcing local ordinances. They
also
collaborated with the National Police Corps by providing
personnel to assist in crowd control. Numbering about
37,000
individuals in 1986, the local police were generally armed
only
with pistols.
Under the Statutes of Autonomy of 1979, the Basque
Country
and Catalonia were granted authority to form their own
regional
police forces. Subsequently, ten of the seventeen
autonomous
regions were extended the right to create their own
forces, but,
as of 1988, only three areas--the Basque Country,
Catalonia, and
Navarre--had developed regional police units. The 1986
organic
law defined the limits of competence for regional police
forces,
although the restrictions imposed did not apply to the
existing
forces in the Basque Country and Navarre and applied only
in part
to those in Catalonia. Under the law, regional police
could
enforce regional legislation, protect regional offices,
and, in
cooperation with national forces, could police public
places,
control demonstrations and crowds, and perform duties in
support
of the judiciary. A Security Policy Council was
established at
the national level to ensure proper coordination with the
new
regional forces, which, as of 1986, numbered about 4,500
officers.
Data as of December 1988
|
