Fines for offending cops stall 'gag law' reform

The negotiations to remove the gag from the Citizen Security law, as promised by the Government and its parliamentary partners, are complicated at a time in the legislature in which time is against them.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
24 October 2022 Monday 02:33
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Fines for offending cops stall 'gag law' reform

The negotiations to remove the gag from the Citizen Security law, as promised by the Government and its parliamentary partners, are complicated at a time in the legislature in which time is against them. Pessimism has set in among the parties working to modify the rule due to the lack of significant progress in recent months. They have met up to 28 times – very discreetly – in the Congress of Deputies, managing to agree on a good number of modifications to the law approved by the Popular Party. However, the aspect that is creating the most tension between the negotiators remains pending: article 37.4, which includes the punishment for disrespecting the police.

The article of discord, which has become the perfect excuse to launch accusations of blocking between the groups, punishes with fines ranging from 100 euros to 600 "lack of respect and consideration whose recipient is a member of the armed forces". and security forces in the exercise of their functions […] when these conducts do not constitute a criminal offense.”

In practice, this means that any agent can fine – without major formalities – a citizen who considers that he has been disrespectful, truthfully telling the version of the uniformed officer. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, in 2021, 26,254 fines were imposed for despising police officers, about 70 per day. The collection last year exceeded five million euros, while in the year before the pandemic (2019) this figure stood at 3.2 million euros.

The parties that sit at the table agree that the wording of this point is "very interpretable" and "gives wide sleeves" to the police to resort to it. It is the second precept of the Citizen Security Law most used to fine. But the partners are unable to find a consensus formula to unclog the situation. At one extreme, the socialist group, which, now, is committed to hardly modifying the article. In another, ERC or EH Bildu, which directly seek to eliminate it. In the middle: United We Can, which is acting as a conciliator. For its part, Junts has not attended the latest meetings, convinced that there will be no reform.

Sources close to the negotiations explain to La Vanguardia that the PSOE has drawn a red line so as not to touch the controversial article, hiding behind the will of the Ministry of the Interior, from where it does not want to create another reason for tension with the unions of the National Police and Civil Guard associations. "If they modify it, all the agents will go out on the street," they threaten. From the department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska they put themselves in profile, alleging that the reform was promoted by Congress and not the ministry, so it is up to the groups to fulfill their promises.

From United We Can, which a few weeks ago was "very optimistic" to reach an agreement before the end of the year, expectations have been lowered. His proposal is to accompany the precept with a kind of "objectible" catalog in which the specific behaviors are collected - specifying insults - that can be considered as disrespectful to the agents. So that an agent cannot impose fines of up to 600 euros for facts open to interpretation such as "looking badly" or "showing a cocky tone".

During these seven years of validity, fines have been processed for calling a uniformed officer a “colleague” or treating an agent as your. The position of the purple group seduces the nationalists, who despite the fact that they advocate eliminating the article –considering it “totally arbitrary”– are willing to give in so that the legislature does not end without modifying the law of the Popular Party. As it is the modification of an organic law, 176 yeses are needed.