Abbreviation FPA Preceding agency Guardia de Asalto | Formed August 3, 1939 Dissolved 1979 | |
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Common name Cuerpo de Policía Armada y de Tráfico Superseding agency Cuerpo de Policía Nacional | ||
The Policía Armada (English: Armed Police), conventional long names Cuerpo de Policía Armada y de Tráfico and Fuerzas de Policía Armada, —popularly known as los grises (English: the grey ones) owing to the color of their uniforms— was an armed urban police force of Spain established by the Francoist State 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."
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In the first years of operation, the Policía Armada was badly equipped in armament and vehicles. Its first commander was General Antonio Sagardía Ramos.
History
Following the overthrow of the Spanish Republic in April 1939, the new Francoist regime initially relied on the Army in order to handle public order issues. By means of two sets of laws issued on 3 August 1939 and 8 March 1941 the Spanish State reorganized the police forces of Spain and established the Armed Police as a gendarmerie style national armed police that could be used to suppress disturbance of the public order and political organization in urban areas. Armed and trained for this purpose, it was intended to provide a more effective force for internal security duties in the large cities of Spain than the Guardia Civil that operated mainly in rural areas.
At the time of the Spanish coup of July 1936 that marked the onset of the Spanish Civil War most of the members of the preceding equivalent corps, the Assault Guards had stayed loyal to the Spanish Republican government and many of their units fought valiantly in the battlefronts against the Francoist armies and their allies. This display of loyalty towards the Spanish Republic brought about the disbandment of the corps by General Franco at the end of the Civil War. The members of the Guardia de Asalto who had survived the war and the ensuing Francoist purges were made part of the Policía Armada, the corps that replaced it.
The Policía Armada was placed under the Directorate-General of Security (Dirección General de Seguridad) of the Spanish Ministry of Governance (Ministerio de la Gobernación) and operated in most large population centers in Spain. Towards the last phase of the Francoist regime it had earned a wide reputation as a ferocious corps, especially in the largest cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia, as well as the industrial areas of Spain such as parts of Asturias and the Basque country, where its well-equipped anti-riot units were ruthless and effective in quelling demonstrations by university students and workers that were often very large.
In the months after the death of the dictator the Armed Police actively cracked down on protests and political rallies, continuing the infamous riot control operations of the dictatorship. Viewed as unpopular and too closely identified with Franco's dictatorship, the Policía Armada was slightly reorganized in the first years of the Spanish Transition, when brown uniforms replaced the former grey ones, among other cosmetic changes. The effort, however, revealed itself hopeless for the brutal and harsh image of the corps could not be improved and in 1979 the Armed Police was replaced by the Cuerpo de Policía Nacional (National Police Corps).
As its other function was traffic and road saferty, its duties in all national highways outside the metropolitan areas ended in 1969, when the Civil Guard took over.
Human rights abuses
The Policía Armada, together with the Guardia Civil, became notorious during the decades of Francoism for its ruthless methods and for widespread human rights abuses against its victims. Indiscriminate beatings of detainees and torture, with or without interrogation, were commonplace in the many police stations (Comisarías) as well as in the headquarters of the Armed Police. Interrogations usually included a member of the Brigada Político-Social, the Francoist political repression wing. The brutal image of the Spanish police would be so pervasive that it has continued to haunt the National Police Corps that replaced the Policía Armada following the Spanish Transition to this day.
Ranks
The ranks and insignia of the Policía Armada displayed its military character and structure. When the National Police Corps replaced it in 1979, it would take 7 years before the rank system was replaced.
Vehicles
The Armed Police used different types of vehicles until its disbandment in 1978. Their registration plates had the letters FPA (Fuerzas de Policía Armada) in black over white.
The Mobile Units (Banderas Móviles) used the following vehicles:
The General Reserve Companies (Compañías de Reserva General) used the following:
The Garrison Units (Banderas de Guarnición) were equipped with:
The Cavalry Units (Caballería) used Avia 2500 trucks that could carry four horses each for their anti-riot operations.