The rise of attacks on agents marks the campaign of the union elections of the Police

The attacks on the security forces in the streets have marked the start of the union election campaign in the National Police, which will be held on June 28. The Spanish Police Confederation (CEP) has released a documentary in which it puts the issue on the table with a question as the common thread: “If the Police are not protected, who is?”. Fatality has made this debate coincide with the death over the weekend of a uniformed officer in Andújar (Jaén) when he went to reduce an exalted man who had confronted another agent. This event led all the unions to postpone the start of the electoral acts for 24 hours as a show of solidarity with their family and friends..

“He punched me, I lost consciousness”, “I was going after Manu with the knife up, stabbing him, I thought he was dead”, “hitting a policeman, in most cases, is free”. These are some first-person testimonies shown by the documentary released by the CEP. It addresses issues such as the principle of authority of the police, protection measures or the little support they receive from police officers. Agents who were injured in Citizen Security interventions and had to leave the service prematurely participate.

“It is a crime to step on the street and be threatened, insulted, attacked and nobody tries to stop this situation,” says another of the messages from this campaign.. Images of the injuries suffered by the police as a result of blows and stab wounds follow one another. In 2022, there were 12,843 crimes of attack against an agent of authority. Most of them, 72%, occurred against national police officers. According to their data, attacks last year reached the highest figure in the last 15 years and mean 7.6% more than in 2021..

👮🏻‍♂️ That the police do not feel protected, #TieneDelito

👮🏻 That those who play it on the street every day do not have physical and legal security, #TieneDelito

🚓 That the principle of authority is on the ground in 🇪🇸, #TieneDelito

🗳️ For this reason, on 28-J #VotaCEP to the Council of… pic.twitter.com/Ye00gWqKuj

– CEP (@cep_cepolicia) June 12, 2023

For this reason, they ask to increase the penalties for an attack against an agent of the authority. Currently, it is punishable by a sentence of between six months and three years in prison.. They also propose to review the Citizen Security Law, to reinforce the protection of the police, and a “massive purchase” of protection materials. In addition, they defend a legal reform that eliminates the disqualification to continue practicing in the event of a conviction related to police activity.. They also propose having civil liability insurance that covers interventions. The protection of professionals is monopolizing the first stages of the campaign to the detriment of other usual demands, such as salary equalization or the retirement of agents.

The elections

On June 28, 72,161 national police officers are called to vote. The unions that attend the elections are disputing 14 seats in the Police Council, the body of communication between the police and the Ministry of the Interior. It is the table where improvements are requested for agents. These positions are divided between one from the higher scale, two from the executive scale, one from the sub-inspection scale and 10 from the basic scale.. In the last one, four years ago, Jupol clearly prevailed, despite its short union career.

Jupol was born as a movement under the name of Jusapol. In its beginnings, they refused to become a union and based their strength on street mobilizations in the heat of the claim to be equal in salary with the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Ertzaintza and the local police. Finally, they were constituted as a union and managed to capitalize at the polls a critical discourse with the historical union brands. It was an irruption in parallel to the one that occurred in politics with the emergence of new parties. Jupol ousted the other unions with long experience that had negotiated with the ministry a salary increase for police officers.

One of the unknowns in these elections is whether Jupol, who always considered this improvement in salaries insufficient, accuses these four years of institutional activity. The historic Unified Police Union (SUP) aspires to regain hegemony in the Council, where it has always been closely followed by the Spanish Police Confederation (CEP), mainly at the basic level. In the command scales, on the other hand, the union with the most votes is usually the Police Professional Union (SPP).. Other groups with a tradition that go to the polls is the Federal Police Union (UFP)..

All of them showed their union of action on Sunday, when the death of their partner in Andújar was known, caused by a bullet that hit by accident from another local police officer who was involved in the event.. All the platforms agreed to delay the start of the campaign by one day, which was set for this Monday. It so happens that the constitution of the new Police Council that comes out of the elections will be chaired by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, because it would be feasible to carry it out in mid-July, although his presence is optional..