HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Directorate-General of the Police (DGP) is a component of the Spanish Department of the Interior responsible for exercising the direct command of the
National Police Corps The National Police Corps ( es, Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, link=no, CNP; ; also known simply as National Police, ) is the national civilian police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing ...
, the main civil law enforcement agency of
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
. The DGP, integrated in the Secretariat of State for Security, is in charge of organize, direct, coordinate and execute the missions entrusted to the National Police by the provisions in force, in accordance with the guidelines and orders issued by the Minister of the Interior. The DGP was created in 1979 to replace the Directorate-General for Security in the command of the two civil police forces that existed at that time, the Corps of National Police and the Superior Police Corps. In 1986 both Corps were unified in the National Police Corps. Also, between 2006 and 2011 this directorate was unified with the one of the
Civil Guard Civil Guard refers to various policing organisations: Current * Civil Guard (Spain), Spanish gendarmerie * Civil Guard (Israel), Israeli volunteer police reserve * Civil Guard (Brazil), Municipal law enforcement corporations in Brazil Historic ...
. The Directorate-General of the Police is headed by the
Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...
, an official appointed by the
Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
at the request of the Interior Minister. To assist the Director-General there is a Deputy Director of Operations (DAO), a National Police Commissioner. The current director-general of the Police is the former
SEDEF The Secretary of State for Defence (SEDEF) is the second-highest-ranking official in the Ministry of Defence of Spain. The SEDEF is a civilian which is appointed by the King with the advice of the Defence Minister. In spite of being the second ...
Francisco Pardo and the DAO is Chief Commissioner José Ángel González Jiménez.


History


1978 Police Act

Three weeks before the publication of the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
, the Police Act of December 4, 1978 was published. This law was a new stage for public safety in Spain. It structured the State security agencies through the Police and the
Civil Guard Civil Guard refers to various policing organisations: Current * Civil Guard (Spain), Spanish gendarmerie * Civil Guard (Israel), Israeli volunteer police reserve * Civil Guard (Brazil), Municipal law enforcement corporations in Brazil Historic ...
. At the same time, the Police consisted of two agencies; the Superior Police Corps, successor to the General Police Corps and distantly from the Surveillance Corps (1852), and by the National Police Corps, direct successor to the Armed and Traffic Police Corps, and indirectly to the Security Corps (1852) and the Assault Guard (1932). Also, this law meant the suppression of various public order organs, highlighting the Directorate-General for Security, a public order body created in the 1910s that during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco was the visible face of repression. Likewise, for the first time the functions of both police forces are clearly distributed, attributing to the police the "security in the provincial capitals and other large towns", and the rest of the territory and, in particular, the rural areas, they were responsibility of the Civil Guard as well as traffic and legislation on weapons and explosives.


Directorate-General of the Police

The Police Act created the Directorate-General of the Police to assume the functions of the Directorate-General for Security, under the orders of the new Directorate for State Security (DGS), a direct predecessor of the current Secretariat of State for Security. The last head of the DGS was Mariano Nicolás García. Thus, becoming effective the mandate of said law, the DGP was fully operational in 1979, being its first holder José Sainz González. The DGP inherited the organizational structure of the DGS, being integrated by the director-general, the deputy director-general, the Personnel, Economic Management, and Teaching and Improvement Divisions, the General Commissariats of
Information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...
, of Judicial Police and of Documentation, as well as of the Inspectorate-General of the Police and the entire peripheral police structure.


Organic Act on Security Forces and Corps

The most relevant change to which the DGP has had to adapt has been to the approval of the Organic Act of Security Forces and Corps of March 13, 1986. This law was created «responding fundamentally to the mandate of article 104 of the Constitution», according to which an Organic Act should determine the functions, basic principles of action and statutes of the State Security Forces and Corps. This law meant for the DGP the integration of the Superior Police Corps and the Corps of National Police into the
National Police Corps The National Police Corps ( es, Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, link=no, CNP; ; also known simply as National Police, ) is the national civilian police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing ...
(CNP). Also that year, the Directorate for State Security was raised to the rank of Secretariat of State and the Directorate-General of the Police was raised to the rank of general secretariat. Likewise, the DGP leaves the building of the
Royal House of the Post Office The Royal House of the Post Office (Spanish: ''Real Casa de Correos'') is an eighteenth century building in Puerta del Sol, Madrid. It was built for the postal service, but currently serves as the office of the President of the Community of Madr ...
and establishes its headquarters in the palace of the number 5 of Miguel Ángel Street. In 1987, the State security organs were reformed, and the deputy director-general (''Subdirector general'') was renamed as deputy director-general of Operations (''Subdirector General Operativo''), the General Commissariat for Public Safety (abolished in 1984) is recovered, and the Inspectorate-General of the Police and some divisions are suppressed and other organs are created with a level of deputy directorate-general.


Ministry of Justice and Interior

In 1994 a new phenomenon occurs, such as the integration of two important departaments, that of Justice and that of the Interior. Through this integration a super-ministry was created with powers in judicial and security affairs. The DGP is renamed as General Secretariat-Directorate-General of Police (since 1986 it had the rank of general secretariat) until 1996, when both
departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
separated. It is during this reform when the General Commissariat for Scientific Police is created. In 2000 the Government Delegation for Immigration and Foreigners was created, an organ with which the DGP had to coordinate to exercise its powers in these matters until 2004, when it was abolished and the immigration and foreigners policy passes to the
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...
.


Single control and current split

Between September 2006 and December 2011, the Directorates-General of the Police and of the Civil Guard were merged by Prime Minister Zapatero with the purpose of «carry out the tasks of both police forces in a more integral, homogeneous and coordinated way». In 2008, it was known that the Interior Minister,
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (; 28 July 1951 – 10 May 2019) was a Spanish statesman, politician and chemist who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from 2010 to 2011, and previously as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993, as Minister of ...
, was not comfortable with this union of command and wanted to split them again, but that wasn't the opinion of the Prime Minister and remained together. In 2009 it was created the University Center of the Civil Guard, integrated in the directorate-general. During this time both agencies maintained their differentiated structure and legal regime, with a different Coordination Office for each body. In addition, the positions of Deputy Directors of Operations (Director Adjunto Operativo, DAO) were created as a technical assistance organ to the director-general. There was one DAO for each law enforcement agency. With the arrival of
Prime Minister Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. On 5 ...
to the government and the appointment of
Juan Ignacio Zoido Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez (born 21 January 1957) is a Spanish former judge and politician of the People's Party, who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2019. In Parliament, he has since been serving on the Committee o ...
as Interior Miniter, they decided to split the command again considering that the coordination task was a duty of the
Secretary of State for Security The Secretary of State for Security (SES) of Spain is the second-highest-ranking official in the Ministry of the Interior. The SES is appointed by the Monarch with the advise of the Minister of the Interior. The Secretariat of State for Security ...
and that every agency needed to have their own command. In July 2017, Minister Zoido abolished the positions of Deputy Directors of Operations, a decision that was reversed by Minister
Fernando Grande-Marlaska Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez (born 26 July 1962) is a Spanish judge, serving as minister of the Interior since June 2018 under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Biography Early life and career Born in Bilbao, he is the son of Avelino Grande, an ...
in July of the following year.


Organizational structure


Central structure

The Directorate-General, led by the Director-General, is integrated by: * The Office of the Deputy Director of Operations, responsible for collaborating with the Director-General in the direction of the functions of maintaining order and citizen security, and directly responsible for the direction, coordination and supervision of the central, supraterritorial and territorial police units; the monitoring and control of the results of the operational programs, and the definition of the human and material resources applicable to said programs. The DAO's Office acts as the National Central Office of
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...
, the National Unit of Europol and the Sirene Office. ** General Commissariat of Information. **
General Commissariat of Judiciary Police The General Commissariat of Judiciary Police (, CGPJ) is an intelligence service within the National Police Corps of Spain responsible for the investigation of organized crime, economic and monetary crimes or cybercrime. CGPJ is also in charge ...
. ** General Commissariat for Public Safety. ** General Commissariat for Immigration and Borders. ** General Commissariat of Scientific Police. * The Deputy Directorate-General for Human Resources and Training, in charge of collaborating with the Director-General in the direction and coordination of both the management of DGP staff and their selection and training. ** Personnel Division. ** Training and Improvement Division. * The Deputy Directorate-General for Logistics and Innovation, in charge of collaborating with the Director-General in the direction, coordination and management of economic and material resources, as well as of the documentation of
Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ...
and foreigners, and police records. *The International Cooperation Division, which is responsible for directing the collaboration and assistance to the foreign police agencies and the coordination of the working groups in which the DGP participates in the field of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
and other international institutions, as well as aspects related to missions of support to third countries and police personnel serving abroad. ** Economic and Technical Division. ** Documentation Division.


Peripheral structure

The peripheral structure is integrated by: * The Highier Offices of Police, one in every
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
. * The Provincial police stations. * The Zonal police stations, which are police stations with jurisdiction over several districts. * The Local and District Police Stations. * The Joint or Mixed Police Stations, which are special police stations shared with neighbour countries. * The Border Police Offices. * The Documentation Units.


Budget

The Directorate-General of the Police has a budget of
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
3,794,845,810 for 2022. It is divided as follows:


See also

*
Law enforcement in Spain Law enforcement in Spain is carried out by numerous organizations, not all of which operate in the same areas. * The '' Guardia Civil'' (Civil Guard) is the national gendarmerie force and therefore, has a military status. It is the most powerful ...
* Law enforcement in the European Union *
National Police Corps The National Police Corps ( es, Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, link=no, CNP; ; also known simply as National Police, ) is the national civilian police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing ...
*
Directorate-General of the Civil Guard The Directorate-General of the Civil Guard (DGGC) is a component of the Spanish Department of the Interior responsible for exercising the direct command of the Civil Guard law enforcement agency. The DGGC, integrated in the Secretariat of State ...


References

{{Authority control 1979 establishments in Spain Government of Spain