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Nordeste · May 20, 2011, 08:39 PM

Actually, I'm GC, Sleuth.

As said, we have two police forces that operate at national level. One is GC (http://www.guardiacivil.org/), and the other one is the "Cuerpo Nacional de Policía" (www.policia.es). The differences between the two are quite a few. CNP is deployed in every province capital and towns over 25000 people, whereas GC is deployed in all the rest of the territory, including the 12 miles of territorial sea. CNP is a fully civilian police agency, whereas GC operates at civilian level most of the time, but has certain military assignments (please do not confuse with a paramilitary organization, nothing to do with that) that mostly have to do with investigation of military offences, intel, or MP duties when attached to a military unit deployed abroad. Last two spaniards that fell in the line of duty in Afghanistan were GC officers instructing the local police. They shared the Mazar e Sharif base with the US Marines, who paid their respects lowering the US Flag and raising the Spanish one, while a platoon of Marines joined the military ceremony in the memory of the two fallen comrades. Semper Fi , Marines, we won't forget that.

Link: http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com...IdObjeto=26052

Assignments between the two police forces are different but complementary. CNP has the specialties you might expect in a modern police force such as riot control, bomb squads, K9, tactical teams, intel, community policing, criminal investigations, helicopters...), whereas GC has all the above, plus Traffic and Highway duties, Alpine specialists (for rescue and mountain environment intervention), divers, Coast Guard, Customs, weapons control and a more complete "air service" that include both helicopters and airplanes for maritime surveillance. Manpower is at around 55000 officers for CNP and 85000 for GC. Another difference is in colour. CNP is in regular police blue, GC wears a distinctive green uniform (or black for the spec. ops. guys). You could say CNP is more specialized in the urban environment, whereas GC is more "all environment" capable, and able to operate together with military units.

I guess you can read spanish, so I put a couple of links. The webs are nothing special but can provide some useful info.

I don't fully understand what you mean by what's our qualification course. If you don't mind making it a bit more clear for me, I'll be pleased to answer your questions.

May 20, 2011, 08:39 PM	#42
Nordeste Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2011 Location: Asturias, Spain Posts: 328	Actually, I'm GC, Sleuth. As said, we have two police forces that operate at national level. One is GC (http://www.guardiacivil.org/), and the other one is the "Cuerpo Nacional de Policía" (www.policia.es). The differences between the two are quite a few. CNP is deployed in every province capital and towns over 25000 people, whereas GC is deployed in all the rest of the territory, including the 12 miles of territorial sea. CNP is a fully civilian police agency, whereas GC operates at civilian level most of the time, but has certain military assignments (please do not confuse with a paramilitary organization, nothing to do with that) that mostly have to do with investigation of military offences, intel, or MP duties when attached to a military unit deployed abroad. Last two spaniards that fell in the line of duty in Afghanistan were GC officers instructing the local police. They shared the Mazar e Sharif base with the US Marines, who paid their respects lowering the US Flag and raising the Spanish one, while a platoon of Marines joined the military ceremony in the memory of the two fallen comrades. Semper Fi , Marines, we won't forget that. Link: http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com...IdObjeto=26052 Assignments between the two police forces are different but complementary. CNP has the specialties you might expect in a modern police force such as riot control, bomb squads, K9, tactical teams, intel, community policing, criminal investigations, helicopters...), whereas GC has all the above, plus Traffic and Highway duties, Alpine specialists (for rescue and mountain environment intervention), divers, Coast Guard, Customs, weapons control and a more complete "air service" that include both helicopters and airplanes for maritime surveillance. Manpower is at around 55000 officers for CNP and 85000 for GC. Another difference is in colour. CNP is in regular police blue, GC wears a distinctive green uniform (or black for the spec. ops. guys). You could say CNP is more specialized in the urban environment, whereas GC is more "all environment" capable, and able to operate together with military units. I guess you can read spanish, so I put a couple of links. The webs are nothing special but can provide some useful info. I don't fully understand what you mean by what's our qualification course. If you don't mind making it a bit more clear for me, I'll be pleased to answer your questions.