The Civil Guard is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence. The role of the Ministry of Defence is limited except in times of war when the Ministry has exclusive authority. The corps is colloquially known as the benemérita (reputable). In annual surveys, it generally ranks as the national institution most valued by Spaniards, closely followed by other law enforcement agencies and the military.
A carabinier is in principle a soldier armed with a carbine. A carbiniere is a carabiniere musket or rifle. Carabiniers were first introduced during the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The word is derived from the identical French word carabinier.
José del Castillo Sáez de Tejada or José Castillo was a Spanish Police Guardia de Asalto lieutenant during the Second Spanish Republic. His murder by four Falangist gunmen on July 12, 1936 led to a sequence of events that helped precipitate the Spanish Civil War.
The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) broke out with a military uprising in Morocco on July 17, triggered by events in Madrid. Within days, Spain was divided in two: a "Republican" or "Loyalist" Spain consisting of the Second Spanish Republic, and a "Nationalist" Spain under the insurgent generals, and, eventually, under the leadership of General Francisco Franco.
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 gendarmerie. The CNP operates under the authority of Spain's Ministry of the Interior. They mostly handle criminal investigation, judicial, terrorism and immigration matters. The powers of the National Police Corps varies according to the autonomous communities, Ertzaintza in the Basque Country and Mossos d'Esquadra in Catalonia are the primary police agencies. In Navarra they share some duties jointly with Policía Foral (Foruzaingoa).
The Army of Africa or "Moroccan Army Corps" was a field army of the Spanish Army that garrisoned the Spanish protectorate in Morocco from the late 19th century until Morocco's independence in 1956.
Law enforcement in Bolivia is reliant on the 40.000-strong Cuerpo de Policía Nacional responsible for internal security and maintaining law and order Unlike many South American countries, the Bolivian police force always has been accountable to the national government rather than to state or local officials. The 1950 Organic Law of Police and Carabiniers officially separated the police from the military. Frequently, however, the national police call upon the military for assistance in quelling riots and civil protests.
The National Police of Colombia is the national police force of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military Forces of Colombia, it constitutes along with them the "Public Force" and is also controlled by the Ministry of Defense. Unlike many nations which use a tiered system of law enforcement, the National Police is the only civilian police force in Colombia. The force's official functions are to protect the Colombian nation, enforce the law by constitutional mandate, maintain and guarantee the necessary conditions for public freedoms and rights and to ensure peaceful cohabitation among the population.
Law enforcement in Spain is carried out by numerous organizations, not all of which operate in the same areas.
The Civil Guard in Peru was formed as main preventive police force of Peru in 1922. It was organized and trained by a Spanish police mission sent to Peru at that time. It was not a detective force, investigations being carried out by the Investigative Police of Peru founded in the same year, while the old Republican Guard still had certain police missions. The Civil Guard was later renamed the General Police, which merged into the new National Police of Peru in 1988.
Carabineros de Chile are the Chilean national police force, who have jurisdiction over the entire national territory of Chile. Created in 1927, their mission is to maintain order and create public respect for the laws of the country. They reported to the Ministerio de Defensa Nacional through the Undersecretary of Carabineros but since 2011, the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security has full control over them. They are in practice separated fully from the three other military branches by department but still considered part of the armed forces. Chile also has an investigative police force, the Investigations Police of Chile, also under the Interior and Public Security Ministry; a Maritime Police also exists for patrol of Chile's coastline.
The Police Community of the Americas or Ameripol is a hemispheric mechanism of cooperation police organization created in 2007.
The Peruvian National Police is the national police force of Peru. Its jurisdiction covers the nation's land, sea, and air territories. Formed from the merge of the Investigative Police, the Civil Guard, and the Republican Guard in 1988, it is one of the largest police forces in Latin America. Its mission is to preserve domestic order, public order and national security, in order to enforce the law and protect the people of Peru. The PNP is controlled by the Ministry of the Interior (Peru). The PNP has a number of divisions, tasked with enforcing specific aspects of the law; among the more well known are DIROES, DIRANDRO, DIRINCRI, and DIRCOTE (Anti-Terrorism).
The Carabineros was an armed carabiniers force of Spain under both the monarchy and the Second Republic. The formal mission of this paramilitary gendarmerie was to patrol the coasts and borders of the country, operating against fraud and smuggling. As such the Carabineros performed the dual roles of frontier guards and customs officials.
The July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona was a military uprising in Barcelona, the capital and largest city of Catalonia, Spain on 19 July 1936 which contributed to the start of the Spanish Civil War. Most of the Spanish Army officers in the city supported the coup, but the Civil Guard, the Assault Guard and the Mossos d'Esquadra remained loyal to the government. Furthermore, Barcelona was one of the strongholds of the anarchist union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). The rebel troops were defeated after bloody combat.
The Policía Armada, conventional long names Cuerpo de Policía Armada y de Tráfico and Fuerzas de Policía Armada, —popularly known as los grises owing to the color of their uniforms— was an armed urban police force of Spain established by the Francoist regime in 1939 to enforce the repression of all opposition to the regime. Its mission was "total and permanent vigilance, as well as repression when deemed necessary."
The General Police Corps was a law enforcement force of Spain established by the Francoist regime in 1941 to conduct criminal investigation and enforce political repression. They should not be confused with the Armed Police Corps, which was responsible for the maintenance of public order.
The National Republican Guard was a public security corps which existed in the Second Spanish Republic at the commencement of the Spanish Civil War, successor of the Civil Guard within the Republican faction.
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 for Security, is in charge of organize, direct, coordinate and execute the missions entrusted to the Civil Guard by the provisions in force, in accordance with the guidelines and orders issued by the Ministers of the Interior and of Defense, within the scope of their respective powers.
