The Guardia Civil

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mikkak,

thanks for taking the time to explain to other members of the board about the guardia civil.

they have a really undeserved reputation in spain and it too makes me cross when i read some of the ill-informed posts about the police on the island.

the guardia civil have one of the most difficult jobs on the island. the population in summer doubles, and very many of these summer visitors do things which are against the law.

i have been here for 13 years and have never once had trouble with the guardia civil, nor even seen any evidence of trouble anywhere on the island - and believe you me i have been out clubbing a lot! neither have i ever heard from any of my friends that they have been mistreated.

many people treat ibiza as their personal playground, and it is hardly surprising with the amount of drink-driving accidents caused by tourists / visitors to the island, that the police are sometimes fed up with it all.

yes there may be isolated incidents, but as with any police, an insolent attitude will get you nowhere. (i am not pointing any fingers.)

if you don't bother them, then they won't bother you. as simple as that. please do spare a thought for them - they really are only doing their jobs. i bet we've got several policemen as members in this forum, and i bet they can relate to this post!
 
StephenPowley said:
berry said:
It is not illegal to search people who are going into a club. FACT.
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Maybe not in America, but I think you'll find that in Europe they can.

Plus lets not forget thare are two types of police:

Policia Local and Guardia civil

The former is the equivilent to The Met, the latter more like the military police
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That's my point... They CAN search you... hence "it is NOT illegal to search people"
 
I forgot to say how many people (10 seperate times at least) i have seen with my own eyes getting beaten with battons for jumping in the fountains whilst drunk in san an. I can understand that jumping/dancing in public fountains is illegal but surely the punishment isn't a few hefty wacks with a batton?

This all happened 16-12 years ago and i haven't seen much trouble in a long time.
 
POLICE:
It is illegal to do RANDOM searches in western countries. If they have some cause they can just pat you down (searching just for guns). If you have done something illegal (they see you taking or buying drugs) they can search you for drugs. They can even stripsearch you but only in a police station.

SECURITY:
Security can search you like they will. Its their club after all...you can deny the search but then you cannot get in.
 
james said:
mikkak,

thanks for taking the time to explain to other members of the board about the guardia civil.

they have a really undeserved reputation in spain and it too makes me cross when i read some of the ill-informed posts about the police on the island.

the guardia civil have one of the most difficult jobs on the island. the population in summer doubles, and very many of these summer visitors do things which are against the law.

i have been here for 13 years and have never once had trouble with the guardia civil, nor even seen any evidence of trouble anywhere on the island - and believe you me i have been out clubbing a lot! neither have i ever heard from any of my friends that they have been mistreated.

many people treat ibiza as their personal playground, and it is hardly surprising with the amount of drink-driving accidents caused by tourists / visitors to the island, that the police are sometimes fed up with it all.

yes there may be isolated incidents, but as with any police, an insolent attitude will get you nowhere. (i am not pointing any fingers.)

if you don't bother them, then they won't bother you. as simple as that. please do spare a thought for them - they really are only doing their jobs. i bet we've got several policemen as members in this forum, and i bet they can relate to this post!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it better, James ;)

I don't like the Guardia Civil, but only the corrupted ones would do something illegal, like beating someone. And if some of them was catched doing illegal things they would surely be fired and sued at least. If anyone is beaten by a Guardia Civil, just report it to the police. IT'S ILLEGAL. There're corrupted policemen everywhere.

JT: Wow! Are you God? You see everything everywhere! 8O Things that I've never seen, nor some friend of mine. Please don't believe so much the people. I think you're being a little naive with all this stuff. To top it all you're talking about the early 90's, not now.


Nitefly said: "i got bashed for having my hands in my pockets".

Hard to believe, sorry.


Many of you are making others to jump to conclusions about this issue very quickly, giving a bad name to the laws and democracy in this country! :?
 
Obviously they're not gonna just jump on some random guy and whack him for no reason, but from what I saw. If you are doing something you perhaps shouldn't be they come down HARD. I saw a guy get chased through by about 5 Guardia Civil and 5 bouncers, obviously he wasn't a good boy but the whole point of bouncers is to get them out of clubs not chase and beat them up after.
 
I'm sure none of you good people would get into any trouble anyway so they won't whack ya ! Just slowly move away but don't run from trouble.
 
Just to add my 2 pennies worth...

I've been living on and off in both Ibiza and Madrid for the last 5 years and although I've had a few "run ins" with the Guardia, I've never found them to be anything else but courteous (or as courteous as any power-mad law enforcement official can be!), professional, and more importantly, have done everything more or less by the book. My encounters have been:
- I've been stopped twice for riding a motorbike without a helmet on (once in Madrid, once in Ibiza) and was let go on both occasions with a slap on the wrist and a reminder of why you have to wear the damn things in the first place (why can't they invent aircon in helmets???)
- I've been stopped twice whilst driving for a random alcohol test and to check documents/ITV/insurance. No probs.
- I was checked outside a club and was asked if I would undergo a search or would accompany them to the comisaría. I allowed the search and nothing was found (luckily!). But they didn't treat me like I was guilty until proven innocent, etc..
- And a Japanese friend of mine was mugged on the island (Asians are a popular target apparently) and they were v. helpful, organised a female doctor to check out her bruises, and helped with sorting out a new passport with the Japanese embassy in Madrid, sending faxes and stuff. I was most impressed with them (although they could have been a bit quicker with all the paperwork!!!) and they were real friendly.

I have a lot of expat friends both on the island and living on the mainland, and have never heard anyone complain about being badly treated by either the Guardia or the local Policia. They may not be the friendliest of people in the world, but I'm sure that's part of their job training!

Maybe it's related to language communication problems. Just coz a cop looks frightening, and speaks in a very stern fashion, doesn't mean that he's being abusive. A good trick is to remember that English is not the first language of the local cops, and that they must get as frustrated as you when neither side understands what the other is saying... Just a thought...

Hey, and if people had the same level of respect for the laws while on holiday in Ibiza that they did while at home, then the cops in Ibiza wouldn't need to be so suspicious all the time.

Mart
 
I have visited Ibiza on 20+ occasions and never had a problem with the local or any other police.
Mart sums it up very well but maybe misses the point in his final paragraph : -

"Hey, and if people had the same level of respect for the laws while on holiday in Ibiza that they did while at home, then the cops in Ibiza wouldn't need to be so suspicious all the time. "

The problem is that many young people today go out and get drunk at home and cause trouble for the police but only get a whack with a baton or a squirt of pepper spray but the times are changing - here in Bristol drinking is now banned on the streets and zero tolerance of obscene language and behaviour is becoming the norm with warning signs pointing out the impact on your life that a criminal record may bring.
A long way to go to reclaim the streets for the majority of Bristolians but it is a start.

Sorry, ageist rant over but a forum does warrant differing views.
 
Can someone please explain again what different police forces there are and what each is responsible for? Thanks!
 
blue: policia nacional.... friendly, no problems.

green: guardia civil...not so friendly, ...be careful with them, do what they say, and no problems. ;)
 
TigerVlc


JT: Wow! Are you God? You see everything everywhere! Things that I've never seen, nor some friend of mine. Please don't believe so much the people. I think you're being a little naive with all this stuff. To top it all you're talking about the early 90's, not now.
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No i'm not God but thanks for the compliment!

Just because i have seen things you and your friends haven't doesn't mean they didn't happen.

Just because these things happened a long time ago, doesn't mean that they should not be told. (I did finish by saying that i haven't seen any trouble for a long time.)

If you were around in the late eighties/early ninties would you agree the Guardia had less accountabilty than they do now?
 
in the late eighties I remeber the policemen standing full drunken in the bars drinkin tonns of gin tonic... :D
 
vienna said:
blue: policia nacional.... friendly, no problems.

green: guardia civil...not so friendly, ...be careful with them, do what they say, and no problems. ;)
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Thanks, isnt there another local police as well? :?

What are the juristictions/duties/responsibilities of each force?
 
N8 said:
vienna said:
blue: policia nacional.... friendly, no problems.

green: guardia civil...not so friendly, ...be careful with them, do what they say, and no problems. ;)
Click to expand...


Thanks, isnt there another local police as well? :?

What are the juristictions/duties/responsibilities of each force?
Click to expand...

i only know the blue and greens....oh, and the whites, thats the harbour police....the blue are more for traffic and the greens for the rest , criminals, drunken people, drugs,..etc. etc....in june they where standing on every corner of the island, cause of a terror warning...
 
There're three main Police forces: Policía Nacional, Guardia Civil and Policía Local.

From what I know, the local police tasks are more relevant to small-scale crime in cities, the Policía Nacional investigates murders, some types of large-scale crime, and important security measures in cities such as hazardous football matches, big riots and vandalism in street protests, and the Guardia Civil wach over the security outside the cities, or in villages that don't have a local police station, traffic on the roads, railways, airports, harbours, and finally large-scale crime (mainly drug traffic and terrorism). More or less it's all that way.

However it varies depending on the Autonomic Community you are in. For instance, Catalonia and the Basque Country have their own Autonomic Police as well, which devote their job to some jurisdictions of the other polices.
 
they to me are just getting off by the thought of all the power they have. there was a party at the hotel we stayed in, in July and they came--beat the crap out of even a girl who gently layed her hand on one of their schoulders and told them they would be quiet now.....
JESUS!!! Hitting a poor girl! 8O
 
The Guarda generally do a good job on the Isle, I was once searched by plain clothed GSV in the car park of Priveledge. They were friendly & totally proffessional in their approach. But then they perhaps didn't search as carefully as thay should have ;)
 
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