Guardia Civil

Emblem of the Guardia Civil with crown, sword and fascis

Member of the Guardia Civil in parade uniform

The Guardia Civil is a Spanish police unit with more than 80,000 members. It performs both military and civil functions. Due to its dual role, the Guardia Civil is under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior (Ministerio del Interior) and the Ministry of Defense (Ministerio de Defensa) .

One can best compare the Guardia Civil with the French gendarmerie and the Italian Carabinieri . Other police forces in Spain are the Cuerpo Nacional de Policía , Policía Local or Guardia Urbana as well as their own police in the autonomous regions of Catalonia ( Mossos d'Esquadra ) , Navarra ( Policía Foral ) and Basque Country ( Ertzaintza ) . The Guardia Civil's motto is El honor es mi divisa (“Honor is my motto”).

Lineup

The Guardia Civil was set up in Ronda in 1844 during the reign of Queen Isabella II by Javier Girón , the 2nd Duque de Ahumada and then military inspector general .

assignment

Formally, the Guardia Civil today has to ensure the maintenance of democracy and the constitutional order. In addition to her military police function, she has the following tasks:

Guardia Civil in the port of Palma

Civil Guard barracks in Segovia .

• Motorway police duties
• Fight against drugs
• Border protection and customs functions as well as coast guard
• Securing prisons
• Control of arms trafficking and certificates
• Bomb disposal
• Police presence and control of places with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants and rural areas where there are no Local Police are
• Counterterrorism
• Undercover investigation
• Counterintelligence
• Securing diplomatic institutions abroad
• Fight against cyber and internet crime
• Enforce environmental protection regulations and prosecute related violations

organization

Special and sub-units

The ship Río Nervión of the Guardia Civil del Mar

Various special units belong to the Guardia Civil:

• UCO (Unidad Central Operativa) - unit against organized crime, white-collar crime, money laundering, corruption, cybercrime, etc. a.
• UEI (Unidad Especial de Intervención) - intervention group.
• TEDAX (Técnicos Especialistas en Desactivación de Artefactos Explosivos) - bomb defusing squad .
• GAR (Grupo de Acción Rural) - anti-terrorist unit.
• SEMAR ( Grupo Servicio Marítimo ) - Coast Guard
• SEPRONA (Servicio de Protección de la Naturaleza) - Unit for the protection of nature
• GEAS (Grupo Especial Actividades Subacuáticas) - special unit for tasks below sea level.
• Tráfico - control of expressways and motorways.
• Montaña - Mountain Rescue.
• Servicio Aéreo - surveillance from the air.
• Servicio Cinecológico - Dog team for the localization of drugs, bombs and people.
• GRS (Grupo Rural de Seguridad) - anti-riot unit.

Officer

Oldest photograph of a guardsman of the Guardia Civil ( Reinosa , approx. 1855–1857)

The officers of the Guardia Civil are police officers who are professional soldiers.

Member of the Guardia Civil in Madrid

Careers

Civil Guard officers belong to six different careers with several different entry options. The officers are trained in the Army Officers School, Academia General Militar del Ejército de Tierra (AGM), and in the Officers School of the Guardia Civil, Academia de Oficiales de la Guardia Civil de Aranjuez (AOG). The NCOs and men are trained at the College of Civil Guard, Academia de Suboficiales y Guardias de la Guardia Civil de Ubeda-Baeza (ASG). The Guardia Civil also has its own vocational school, the Colegio de Guardias Jóvenes (CGJ), which is only open to children of Civil Guard officers.

Civil Guard officers
career	Educational requirement Entry requirement	education	Entrance Office	Top office
Escala Superior de Oficiales Direct entry 80% of the training positions	Secondary school leaving certificate	AGM 2 years AOG 3 years	Teniente	Teniente general
Escala Superior de Oficiales Internes advertising 20% ​​of the training places	Officials in the Escala de Oficiales with 2 years of service	AOG 2 years
Escala Facultativa Superior direct entry 25% of the training positions	Masters degree	AGM / AOG 1 year
Escala Facultativa Superior Internal advertising 75% of the apprenticeships		AOG 6 months
Escala de Oficiales	Graduation certificate officer of the Guardia Civil	AOG 1 year	Alférez	Teniente Coronel
Escala Faculativa Técnica Direct entry 25% of the training positions	Bachelor degree	AGM / AOG 1 year
Escala Faculativa Técnica Internal advertising 75% of the apprenticeship positions
Escala de Suboficiales	Graduation certificate officer of the Guardia Civil	ASG 1 years	Sargento	Suboficial Mayor
Escala de Cabos y Guardias 60% military candidates	High school graduation 5 years service as a soldier	ASG 1 year and 40 weeks preparatory service	Guardia	Cabo Mayor
Escala de Cabos y Guardias 20% from CGJ	CGJ
Escala de Cabos y Guardias direct entry 20%	Secondary school leaving certificate
Source:

Guardia Civil Auxiliar

1982–93 was the Guardia Civil Auxiliar unit. Conscripts could do part of their service in this troop. The Guardia Civil, which had become unpopular because of its historically close connection to the Franco regime, also wanted to find candidates for their service. Of the approximately 22,000 soldiers who went through the program, around 12,000 chose a career.

Ranks and Rank Badges

NATO cod	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1
	Teniente general	General de División	General de Brigada	Coronel	Teniente Coronel	Comandante	Capitan	Teniente	Alférez
	president	Vice President	director	Chief Police Director	Police Director Chief Police Officer	Police Council	Police chief inspector	Police superintendent	Police commissioner

NATO cod	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4		OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
	Suboficial Mayor			Subtenient			Brigada		Sargento Primero		Sargento						Cabo Mayor						Cabo Primero		Cabo		Civil Guard Primera						Guardia Civil
	Police chief with official allowance			Police chief			Police Chief Master		Police chief								First police sergeant major						Police sergeant major				Police sergeant major

Position plan

Guardia Civil Auxiliary Uniform .

Civil Guard officers 2017
Ranks	Target strength
Generals	34
Coronel	117
Teniente Colonel	274
Comandante	295
Capitan	878
Teniente	1360
Alférez	283
Suboficial Mayor	46
Subtenient	540
Brigada	940
Sargento Primero	2016
Sargento	3039
Cabo Mayor	60
Cabo Primero	5844
Cabo	1480
Guardia Primera Guardia	57,493
Source:

equipment

Guardia Civil emergency vehicle

The Guardia Civil wears green uniforms. The Guardia Civil police vehicles are green and white and have license plates beginning with PGC ( Parque Guardia Civil - Fleet of the Guardia Civil).

Officials contribute sometimes even today their showy traditional headgear, one coated with black paint film, simplified Tricorn ( Tricornio ) consisting of a low frustum-shaped hood with laterally stiffened brim and only a trapezoidal Hutaufschlag at the back. In artistic, dissident and criminal circles, the Guardia Civil was also called la mala sombra ("the evil shadow") because of the unmistakable silhouette of the officials due to the peculiar hat .

criticism

In 2010 it became known that members of the Guardia Civil had threatened and partially exercised violence while interrogating Basque separatists. Amnesty International sharply criticized the actions of the Guardia Civil .

literature

• Fabian Hinrichs: The law of the Spanish law enforcement police. Ergon-Verlag, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-89913-364-1 ( Würzburg juridical writings 51), (Also: Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2004).

Web links

Commons : Guardia Civil  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• official homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} "Carrera profesional." Guardia Civil. 2017-11-16.
2. ^ "La Guardia Civil denuncia discriminación salarial." Guardia Civil y Policía Nacional Unida. 2017-11-16
3. ↑ FIJADA LA PLANTILLA DE LA GUARDIA CIVIL PARA EL PERÍODO 2013-2018 2017-11-16
4. ^ "Uniformidad en el Cuerpo de la Guardia Civil." Order General número 12, dada en Madrid el día 28 de diciembre de 2009. 2017-11-17.
5. ↑ Torture on Ag-friedensforschung.de