The National Police has organized in Navarre a program of events of a social and cultural nature throughout 2024, year in which the 200th anniversary of its foundation is commemorated. This program has been presented today by the delegate of the Government, Alicia Echeverría, and by the Superior Chief of Police of Navarra, José María Borja.
Echeverría has reviewed the evolution of the body throughout its 200-year history and has assured that “today the National Police is a more modern body, more trained and better prepared to face the enormous challenges – which are not few – of the current moment”. For his part, the superior chief has detailed the events organized in Navarre throughout this year. And he stressed that the bicentenary is “a colossal collective work built over time by men and women who have given the best of themselves”.
The bicentenary, considered as an event of exceptional public interest, commemorates the main episodes in the history of the National Police. The celebration will extend throughout 2024 with a program of activities that will be carried out throughout the national territory and that are promoted and coordinated by the National Commission constituted for this purpose, an interministerial collegiate body attached to the Ministry of the Interior that acts under the Honorary Presidency of Their Majesties the Kings.
The program of acts
On January 13 took place the act of raising the flag of Spain and the tribute to the fallen in the Antoniutti park of Pamplona. The next milestone will be held on February 2, when the traditional “escalerica” of San Fermín organized by the parish of San Lorenzo will be dedicated to the National Police, who will donate a mantle to San Fermín paid for with private donations. A sculpture commemorating the 200th anniversary of the body has also been commissioned from the Navarre artist Carlos Ciriza who will be installed in General Chinchilla Street in Pamplona in the coming months.
On the other hand, an exhibition is being organized that will review the history of the National Police and that will include uniforms from other eras, historical objects or elements typical of the different specialties of the body. Within the framework of this exhibition, two conferences will take place: one on the history of the National Police in Navarre and another on the National Police and terrorism in the Foral Community.
To delve into these issues, work is also being done on the publication of two books on the history of the body in Navarre and on the National Police against ETA.
In the coming months, a disaster simulation is going to be held in a vital infrastructure of Navarre and, also, a large exhibition of National Police resources is being organized in the bullring of Pamplona and/or Tudela.
Institutional visits to the shrine of San Miguel de Aralar and the Museum, Cloister and Cathedral of Pamplona have been scheduled, and an institutional event, a conference and a brotherhood meal will be held with the city of Valcarlos.
The program will be completed with other acts of visibility of the image of the National Police throughout the foral territory with the aim of showing the work of the body and bringing it closer to the citizens as a whole.
200 years in the service of citizenship
On January 13, 1824, at the initiative of King Ferdinand VII, the Royal Decree was promulgated creating the so-called General Police of the Kingdom, historical precedent of the current National Police and the first police force with a national dimension with the function of “guaranteeing good and public security”.
Throughout these two centuries of existence, and despite having had different denominations, the National Police has continuously served the entire citizenry, always in the same spirit of public service. In 1844 it was known as the Corps of Protection and Security, then of Surveillance and, later, of Security and Surveillance. In 1942 it was renamed the General Police Corps and, in 1978, the Superior Police Corps, of a civilian nature, which coexisted with the Armed Police Corps, which later changed its name to the National Police Corps, with military structure and organization.
Finally, in 1986, both bodies were integrated into a single body, the National Police Force, whose name became the National Police in 2015.
Another historic milestone happened in 1978. The BOE published the call for selection tests that included 100 places for “female members”. The following year, in 1979, 42 women took the oath of office and were part of the first promotion of the Superior Police Force. The National Police currently has some 74,000 officers, of whom 12,600 are women, which represents almost 18 per cent of its total staff. This percentage is 15% in Navarre.