National Police and Guardia Civil highlight deployment of officers to help public during state of emergency

The Spokespersons of the two forces reported on this at the press briefing following the meeting of the COVID-19 Scientific-Technical Committee held on Monday. The following is the transcript of their respective presentations:

Assistant Director of Operations of the National Police, Chief Superintendent José Ángel González:

Pool Moncloa / JM Cuadrado"I would like to express my joy and satisfaction at returning to the front line, because no-one likes to stand down when there are problems but you feel that you can contribute something to improve such a complicated situation. I have had the disease but without symptoms, which has allowed me to work from home and return as soon as the doctors considered it opportune.

Accordingly, I would like my first words to be to wish all those going through this tough time to get well soon and send all those who are suffering from this disease at home, and particularly those who are in hospital, a message of encouragement, confidence and affection and to let them know they are in the best hands.

I also wish to once again congratulate all the people of this country for the civic spirit, responsibility and solidarity they are showing despite how tough it is proving after more than five weeks of lockdown, but it is necessary to continue complying with the measures in order to overcome this situation.

Arrests and fines

Over the last 24 hours, 80 people have been arrested, in addition to a total of 2,505 arrested since the Royal Decree came into force, to give a total of 2,585, an increase of 3.19%.

As regards the number of fines, 4,334 fines have issued, to give a total of 165,720 since the start of the state of emergency, an increase of 2.7%.

Borders

In terms of the closure of the borders with France and Portugal, 3,881 vehicles have been stopped, 193 have been denied entry and two arrests have been made.

Repatriation flights

Within the many actions being carried out by our police officers both within Spain and beyond our borders, the National Police continue to help a significant number of people who, due to the measures limiting movement as a result of this health crisis, have been trapped far from their primary residence.

The network of Home Affairs advisers and National Police officers that exercise their functions overseas coordinated by the International Cooperation Division continue to facilitate the return home of Spaniards that live beyond our borders and also of those foreigners who live in Spain but wish to return to their countries of origin.

By way of example of this extraordinary work we are carrying out, the National Police have collaborated with the Peruvian authorities to charter two flights last week that travelled from Lima to Madrid, enabling 528 people to be repatriated, the majority of them Spanish, who were in Peru when the borders were closed. Subsequently, a flight returned to the Peruvian capital with 30 Peruvian citizens on-board who wished to return to their country of origin.

They also worked with the Government of Argentina to organise a flight that allowed 250 Spanish citizens to return to Spain from several cities in the country. Similarly, 275 Spaniards resident in Venezuela were repatriated on a flight out of Venezuela.

Lastly, I wish to recall all those families and friends who have lost their loved one who did not live as long and fruitful lives as they should have, and who have been unable, in most cases, to say goodbye, as they deserved, due to the circumstances. I would like to send them a message of encouragement and hope, and clearly all our affection".

Chief of Staff of the Guardia Civil, General José Manuel Santiago

Pool Moncloa / JM Cuadrado"This Sunday, more than 21,500 Guardia Civil officers provided some form of service around the country with the aim of ensuring compliance with the measures restricting movement and to guarantee compliance with essential services, as well as on missions to protect and help the public, particularly the most vulnerable groups.

In relation to the control of restrictive measures on the roads, the different units of the Guardia Civil and particularly its Traffic Division performed more than 18,000 controls after checking more than 205,000 vehicles and identifying more than 228,000 individuals. This led to some 3,200 charges being brought.

As part of the actions carried out to guarantee essential services, contact was stepped up in general with the official associations of pharmacists in the different provinces, with the aim of reinforcing security at pharmaceutical establishments and supporting their owners, whose work is crucial in the fight against this pandemic.

Regardless of the fact that the main mission of the Guardia Civil at this time is geared towards tackling the pandemic affecting us all, it has not stopped performing other missions, such as guaranteeing the security of all Spanish citizens. Proof of that is the operation carried out by specialists from the task force to combat drug trafficking, in the coastal provinces of Andalusia, within the framework of Operation Carteia, which has been ongoing for almost two years now, and which, during the state of emergency, has led to 52 actions against criminal organisations engaged in drug trafficking, leading to the arrest of a total of 121 people, the seizure of 10,000 kilogrammes of hashish, 10 vessels, 15 vehicles and 1 million euros in cash.

We have also been paying close attention to criminal offences associated with Internet use that are detected each day by our specialists in cyber-crime. One person has been arrested in Madrid and IT material seized in relation to the alleged forwarding of videos of a sexual nature involving minors.

Young people and their families are advised to be prudent and careful in their use of the Internet, and it is essential to enable parental control on devices used by young children, and in the case of teenagers and young people great care should be taken over the sharing of photographs and with conversations they strike up with strangers.

I would encourage you all to continue to patiently comply with the measures imposed under the state of emergency. And to this end, I wish to share a message with all the people of Spain: in my 40 years of service in the fight against ETA; since the academy; in missions abroad in El Salvador, Bosnia and Libya, and now in the fight against this pandemic, if I have learned one thing it is that people come first, not ideologies, but people and all of us here with you form a team. Thank you".

Non official translation