National Police Corps (Spain)


The National Police Corps is the national civilian police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing is generally the responsibility of the Civil Guard, the Spanish national gendarmerie force. The CNP operates under the authority of Spain's Ministry of the Interior. They mostly handle public safety, criminal investigation, judicial, terrorism and immigration matters, having also the exclusive responsibility for national ID cards and passports. The powers of the National Police Corps varies according to the autonomous community. For example, the Ertzaintza and the Mossos d'Esquadra are the primary police agencies in the Basque Country and Catalonia, respectively. In Navarre and Canary Islands, they share some duties jointly with Policía Foral and Policia Canaria.
It has its own emergency number, 091, which is the hallmark of the National Police and was the first emergency number to be used in Spain, in Madrid in 1958.

History

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 Superior Police Corps, but often referred to as the "secret police", formerly the General Police Corps, 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, the Armed Police Corps which became the basis of the current National Police in 1978, 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 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. Their original 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 Spanish 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 Superior 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 Policía Armada had once been dreaded as one of the most familiar symbols of the regime's oppressiveness. During the 1980s, however, the police underwent an internal transformation process, being brought to adopt the new democratic spirit of the times. The police 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.
The current sidearm is the Heckler & Koch USP Compact 9×19mm.

Duties

Law enforcement duties in Spain are regulated by the Organic law 2/1986 of March 13, 1986, making a distinction between the generic functions of all police forces and the exclusive duties that the law assigns to the national police, being those:
  1. The issuing of identity documents.
  2. To control the arrival and departure of foreign and Spanish citizens.
  3. Immigration law, refuge and asylum, extradition and expulsion.
  4. Gambling enforcement.
  5. Drug enforcement.
  6. Collaboration with Interpol and Europol.
  7. Control of private security companies.
  8. General law enforcement and criminal investigation.

    Access and training

Requirements

  • Be born or a naturalized Spanish citizen
  • Be over 18 years of age.
  • Be at least tall, for men, and for women
  • Not have been convicted of fraud or dismissed by a local, regional or national government, or prevented from holding public functions.
  • Hold a driving licence of the class specified by the government.
Basic Scale:
  • Have or to be in conditions to obtain the Certificate of Bachillerato or equivalent.
Executive Scale:
  • Have a Technical Engineer, Technical Architect, Qualified University student or equivalent or top formation degree.

    Competitive examination

The applicant can choose between a Basic Scale career or an Executive Scale career. Applicants must pass the following basic tests before starting the academy:
  • Physical test
  • Multiple-choice exam
  • Aptitude test
  • Voluntary language test
  • Medical examination
  • Interview

    Training academy

If the applicant has been chosen, they will receive professional training at the police academy in Ávila for nine months. Whilst trainees reside at the academy, they learn about Spanish law, receive firearms and self-defense training, conduct practical application exercises, learn the basics of the English or French languages and undergo training in crime investigation. Finally, the pupil will receive a policing practice for a year, in which there will be various common situations that will form him as an agent.

Ranks

From 1979 to 1986 the Police sported a military rank system, a holdover of the old Armed Police.
Above the cadet ranks, the current ranks are:
  • Policía – Policeman/policewoman
  • Oficial de Policía – Police Officer
  • Subinspector – Sub-inspector
  • Inspector – Inspector
  • Inspector Jefe – Chief Inspector
  • Comisario – Commissioner
  • Comisario Principal – Principal Commissioner
  • Jefe Superior – Superior Chief
  • Comisario General – Commissioner General, and Jefe de División – Divisional Chief
  • Subdirector General – Sub-Director General
  • Director Adjunto Operativo – Assistant Director of Operations
  • Director General de la Policía – Director-General of Police

    Rank insignia

Rank insignia 1986–2014

Uniforms

Organization and operational police functions

The General Directorate of Police of Spain is the governing body of the Ministry of the Interior, attached to the Secretary of State for Security, which is responsible for exercising direct command of the National Police Corps, as well as the organization, direction, coordination and execution of the missions entrusted to the National Police by current provisions, in accordance with the guidelines and orders issued by the Minister of the Interior.
In general, the National Police is divided into different areas of action for the exercise of its functions, both at the central level and at the territorial level, replicating this division of powers in all territorial dependencies, adapting each one to the corresponding scale. These are called operational police functions.
All different forms of organization, whether at the central or territorial level, follow this division of operational police functions, being divided into these 5 areas:
  • Public Safety – general law enforcement and public security functions, specially with patrol cars and with special units.
  • Judiciary or Criminal Investigation Police – crime investigation and judicial cooperation.
  • Scientific or ForensicPolice – crime scenes units and preparation of expert reports for the judicial authority.
  • Intelligence or Information – intelligence and anti-terrorism and radicalization unit, having always under his direction:
  • * TEDAX-NRBQ – Explosive Ordinance Disposal and CRBN specialised team.
  • Immigration and 'Borders ' – Control of foreigners and entry and exit from Spain, as well as issuance of documentation.

    Central Structure

The National Police Corps depends on the General Directorate of Police of Spain and is composed at the central level of:
  • The Deputy Directorate of Operations , responsible for collaborating with the Director General in managing public order and citizen security functions, and for the direction, coordination, and supervision of central, supraterritorial, and territorial units; for monitoring and controlling the results of operational programs; for defining the human and material resources applicable to these programs; and for strategic planning regarding digital transformation. The DAO is also responsible for the operational police functions at a central level, being these:
  • * The General Commissariat of 'Information
  • * The General Commissariat of Judiciary Police
  • * The General Commissariat of Public Safety
  • * The General Commissariat of Immigration and Borders
  • * The General Commissariat of Forensic Police.
  • The DAO also has under his orders the following units:
  • * The Operations and Digital Transformation Division.
  • * The Strategic Planning and Coordination Unit.
  • * The Special Operations Group '
  • * The Internal Affairs Unit.
  • * The Operational Support Brigade.
  • The Subdirectorate General of Human Resources and Training, responsible for collaborating with the Director General in the direction and coordination of the management of DGP personnel, as well as their selection and training. It is divide into:
  • * The General Secretariat.
  • * The Human Resources Planning Unit.
  • * The Occupational Risk Prevention and Social and Health Protection Unit.
  • * The Personnel Division.
  • * The Training and Development Division.
  • The Subdirectorate General of Logistics and Innovation, responsible for collaborating with the Director General in the direction, coordination, administration, and management of financial and material resources, as well as documentation on Spanish and foreign nationals, and police archives. It is divided into:
  • * The General Secretariat.
  • * The Information Technology and Telecommunications Unit.
  • * The Economic and Technical Division.
  • * The Documentation Division.
  • The International Cooperation Division, which is responsible for managing the Interpol National Central Bureau, the Europol National Unit, and the SIRENE Office, directing collaboration and assistance with police forces in other countries, and coordinating working groups in which the Directorate General of Police participates within the European Union and other international institutions, as well as aspects related to support missions to third countries and police personnel serving abroad. It is organised:
  • * The General Secretariat.
  • * The International Coordination Unit.
  • * The Interpol National Central Bureau.
  • * The Europol National Unit.
  • * The SIRENE Office.
  • The Technical Office, which is responsible for providing support and assistance to the Director General.