Some background of Spanish police forces for foreigners (and some other ugly state practices).

To give some context to those unaware of the most subversive anti-police, anti-system tones of the series and the 3rd season in particular. If you want to skip the history background go to the bottom for today's perceptions.

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There is a great divide in Spain that dates back to the times of the Reconquista, and has to do with the distribution of land and other shenanigans. In short, it is a extremely liberal country with a strong Anarchist tradition. Problem is, a tiny proportion of extremely conservative landholders usually control most of the power and influence over people. If they don't: Coup. If it doesn't work: Civil War. And no one does anything about it except Hitler, who bombs the shit out of everyone.

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So, from 1939 until 1975: dictatorial regime with a somewhat repressive state police that executed people until the last year of its existence. Apart from the military, the regime deployed the following:

*Police: that beat the shit out of you if you barely look at them with some demeanor. Grey uniform (now blue). Mostly urban areas.

*Guardia Civil: "civil guard", from the earlier regimes, transformed into a military police with one of the main tasks being hunting 'maquis', "reds", and other resistance to the regime. Later on, combat terrorism. Very tough. They "bayoneted" the potato bags where my great-grandpa was hiding (he survived. Note: his crime was being leader of the Union and knowing how to read and write. My region fell fast in 1936 without actual combat).

*Legion: elite military troops, founded by a hard-core fascist general destined in his earlier service in the Asian colonies where he came to admire the bushido, the samurai code of conduct. They are pretty badass, based in the African territories of Spain and going to hard combat areas.

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Historical developments:

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*ETA: 1959 the Basque separatist group ETA is formed and soon transform into a terrorist para-military organization performing kidnappings, extortion, and bombings, killing the prime minister in 1973, who was to be the successor of Franco. Even as of today many people view their fight as legitimate, though they dissolved during this decade, seeing that their goals might be achieved without killings. I grew up with these guys on tv every month or so, and as a child I vividly remember seeing a woman on the middle of the street screaming in agony, having had her legs blown off by a bomb, bone and shredded flesh hanging from what was left of her upper legs.

"Resistência Galega", Galician separatists, is supposedly active, following the steps of earlier "Exército guerrilheiro" but they were never as gruesome and indiscriminate as ETA.

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*1975, Franco dies and democracy is being implemented, soon having elections... but old habits die hard.

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*1981, parts of the Army and the Guardia Civil attempt a coup to abolish democracy. This is the biggest blow to the Guardia Civil image, and distrust continues to this day.

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*1980's. Establishment of the GAL ( Antiterrorist Liberation Groups ), death squads backed by the (Socialist) Spanish government to illegally operate against ETA, performing kidnappings, torture, executions of suspects of collaboration or integrating the terrorist group; all without trial or due guarantees. Many presumed innocents. Their discovery was met with a huge uproar and government fell: Conservatives win the elections. This experience is implied in season 3 as something the state is prone to do.

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*2003 "Illegal" War against Iraq. The conservatives wanted to play with the rich kids but people forced them out of it.

*2004 Islamic terrorist attacks in Madrid, 200 dead, days before general elections; the government tries to fake ETA involvement while evidence points to the contrary (mainly no Spaniard -ETA- will assume trains will arrive on time at the station). They loose the election by a landslide.

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*2007 Socialist's government "Historical Memory Law" recognizing the killings during Franco's regime and commencing the exhumation of bodies dumped into mass graves after executions. All those people were erased from history except from their loved ones who preserved their memory, knowing they lay in a field somewhere in Spain. Most places are yet to be found and most bodies are unidentified.

2007. Fucking 2007. Conservatives had the gigantic brass balls to oppose this law claiming it was used as propaganda and that would only divide the country. BALLS. GIGANTIC. As you see, temperature is still high.

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*2009 Financial Crisis. The conservative's government from years back brought liberalization, that pumped up the economy (obviously)...until it bombed (obviously). 3000 people are evicted each month from their homes. All of them, of course, humble people. People is EXTREMELY pissed off, as fiscal pressure grows to pay the Banks while corrupt officials walk free. This is basically the spark for "La Casa de Papel" season 1. The economy is still somehow "big", went down from 10th to 14th, but wealth gap is massively growing.

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Today, how Spaniards see the forces:

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Disclaimer: Every topic of these is highly divisive in the country. Death threats incoming! Being more than 70 years without a civil war is something never seen here!

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Policía Local (Local Police): your pal, the guy who couldn't or wouldn't study or do something else so he gets to patrol the neighborhood. City level, town level. Local traffic, noisy neighbors, saving cats, etc. Assists National Police when required.

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Policía Nacional (State or National Police): Dark blue uniforms. General law enforcement, immigration, criminal investigation, Interpol, riot control, organized crime. Highly professional forces like GEOs, as seen in the show, are highly militarized.

There is by no means as bad of an image as Americans have with their police. Police officers and citizens know their places. Officers have a job, they treat people with respect, and vice versa. However, aside of them as individuals, the police body is seen as executioner of the will of the state, distrusted by people since ever, with due reason. They do a great job fighting crime and Spain is routinely no.1 in security for people, women traveling alone, etc. However they are more often than not sent to target the most vulnerable, while the big moguls buy their liberty. In the financial crisis they were sent by the judge to evict hundreds of thousands of bankrupted workers who were forced into homelessness. Firemen sent to break their entry routinely refused to put old ladies into the street, but police had not that luxury.

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Guardia Civil: Green uniform. Nationwide law enforcement outside Policía Nacional jurisdiction (small towns). Under military control in states of emergency. Border patrol (sea, land, air), weapon control, customs, intelligence, and highly specialized tasks (diving, mine deactivation, search and rescue, cyber-crime, environmental law enforcement). This was traditionally the most hated police force in Spain for decades or even centuries, but has grown to be the most applauded and admired as heroes. Back then murdering dissidents, nowadays risking their lives. Due to their experience with Spanish terrorism over the decades they are sought now in Europe to teach their experiences to other police forces that have to fight terror attacks for the first time in such scale.

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Now, special nationalities like Catalonia, Basque country and Navarre have their own police force in the place of the Policía Nacional.

The presence of Policía Nacional in those territories can be seen as foreign occupation, and was in the brink of conflict when Catalonia called for a plebiscite for independence and they were sent to "assist" with the security or eventually storm the local parliament if they indeed declared independence. They had to sleep on a ship in the harbor.

The Ertzaintza, in the Basque country, is the most militarized and numerous (per capita) of any region. Due to the conflict with ETA they are seen as traitors by some and many task forces are forced to use a balaclava on a daily basis.