The delegate of the Government in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, announced on Tuesday the incorporation of 90 new Civil Guard troops to the Autonomous Community, which allows to exceed the historical record of agents that was reached in 2011 after the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
"Today is an important day: Cantabria beats the historic record of civil guards. Not only have we recovered the almost one hundred troops that were lost due to the cuts of the previous PP Government, but we have overcome them," said the delegate during the presentation of the traditional 'Operation Summer' and the welcome to the 55 civil guard trainees, held this morning at the Santander Command, in Campogiro, together with Colonel Antonio Orantos.
These 55 students, who begin their internship period in different citizen security units on Tuesday, join the 35 agents that the Community will incorporate from the public employment offer of 2024, whose transfer contest has just been resolved and whose incorporation will be effective in the coming months. "With these 90 new troops, the Civil Guard of Cantabria consolidates a recovery that has been driven like no other by the Government of Pedro Sánchez and that culminates with an absolute record of agents," said Gómez de Diego.
Cantabria had reached the historic figure of 1,249 civil guards in 2011. That maximum was progressively reduced during the period 2011-2017, when almost a hundred agents of the Civil Guard were lost in our region due to the cuts applied by the Executive of the PP. As a whole, during the PP’s mandate, 10% of the Civil Guard and National Police personnel were lost in Cantabria.
Sustained increase
The delegate has assured that this growth of the workforce "will not stop here", recalling that last April the Council of Ministers approved the largest offer of public employment in history for the State Security Forces and Corps, with more than 6,000 places. "The Spanish Government's commitment to public safety is firm. Cantabria not only recovers the lost ground with the PP, but also advances towards the maximum of its operational capacity. We will continue to strengthen the workforce to guarantee the safety, working conditions and well-being of citizens," he said.
The 55 students who are joining the units of the region have completed their theoretical training in educational centers and now face a period of practice of 40 weeks, in which they have full operational capacity under supervision. This is the largest contingent of trainees that Cantabria has received, 31% more than in 2024, when 42 were incorporated. In this way, the record that had been recorded last year is once again broken.
Summer device
The welcome of these troops coincided with the presentation of the deployment of the summer reinforcement of the Civil Guard, which will have around 300 agents throughout this summer. Of these, 94 will provide permanent service, including the 55 civil guards in practice and 39 personnel who completed their stay in Cantabria and who continue in the summer device. The rest of the reinforcements will be incorporated punctually, according to the operational needs in parties, events or special devices.
The device of the summer season is framed in the Special Action Plan for the development of responsible leisure (active from June 1) and in Operation Summer 2025, initiated on July 1. It will also cover actions of the Jacobean Security Plan and the Lebaniego Road.
To reinforce these operations, the Civil Guard will have specialized units such as the Reserve and Security Group (ARS), the Cavalry Group, GEAS (underwater activities), the Maritime Service, the GREIM (rescue and intervention in mountains), the Cinological Service, the Fiscal and Border Service, the Nature Protection Service and the Explosives Deactivation Group.
Personnel from the National Gendarmerie of France are also included, which will collaborate with the Civil Guard in areas where a greater presence of Welsh tourists is expected.
Reinforced air support
In terms of material resources, the Helicopter Unit of the Civil Guard based in Asturias, which serves in Cantabria, has recently renovated its aircraft, replacing the BO-105 model with a modern Airbus Helicopters H135. This new helicopter, with digital avionics and better performance, facilitates flights in adverse conditions, has a crane with a load capacity of 200 kg and a cable of 50 meters, and can reach 277 km/h with an autonomy of up to 3.5 hours.
It’s ready for special operations, including mountain rescue, fast descent via Fast Rope and search thanks to its speaker system and the ability to incorporate gyro-stabilising camera and high-intensity focus.
With these human and technical additions, Cantabria faces the summer with the largest operational deployment of the Civil Guard in its history.