How Guardia Civil personnel are organized and work

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1. It defines who a guardia civil is: a Spaniard linked to the Corps through a permanent professional services relationship, who is both a member of the State law enforcement forces and a career military member of the Guardia Civil. The status is acquired upon obtaining the first rank and joining the corresponding scale.
2. Before acquiring the status of guardia civil, an oath or promise to the flag of Spain must be made, in a public and solemn ceremony, following a specific formula that the law includes word for word.
3. Personnel are grouped into three scales (officers, non-commissioned officers, and corporals and guards) and four categories, with ranks ranging from Teniente General down to Guardia Civil. A single officers' scale is created, whose first rank will be teniente.
4. A maximum age is set to enter the training centers: 40 years for direct access to the corporals and guards scale, and 50 years for professional promotion. Selection is done through concurso, oposición or concurso-oposiciónConcurso-oposición A selection system that combines an assessment of merits (concurso) with exams to pass (oposición)., guaranteeing equality, merit, ability and publicity.
5. Training to join the officers' scale now requires a university bachelor's degree, to be studied together with military and law enforcement training at the Guardia Civil University Center, affiliated with public universities.
6. Promotions follow several systems: seniority, concurso-oposición, classification and selection. Promotion by selection is extended to the rank of coronel, and seniority-based promotion is limited to the first promotions of officers and non-commissioned officers, giving more weight to merit and ability.
7. It includes equality and work-life balance measures: special protection for pregnant guards, preferential right to a posting for victims of gender violencegender violence Violence a woman suffers from a current or former partner because she is a woman. and terrorism without prior publication of the vacancy, and the option to request exclusion from a promotion evaluation up to four times.
8. It regulates administrative situations (active service, special services, leave, suspensions and reserve) and retirement, which generally arrives at age 65. It also sets out when the status of guardia civil is lost and how it can be renounced.

Who it affects

• Active Guardia Civil members: It affects their entire career: promotions, postings, evaluations, administrative situations and retirement.
• People who want to join the Guardia Civil: They must meet nationality, age and education requirements, and pass the selection tests and the corresponding training.
• Students at the training centers: They are subject to the internal rules of the centers and can lose their student status for reasons such as poor performance or a disciplinary sanction.
• Female guards and victims of gender violence or terrorism: They receive specific protections in physical tests, promotions, postings and leave.
• Members of the Armed Forces: They may hold certain postings within the Guardia Civil.

Words worth knowing

Escala (scale)

A group of Guardia Civil personnel classified by the education required to join and the duties they can perform.

Empleo (rank)

A category or grade within the hierarchy (for example, teniente, capitán or cabo) that grants authority and determines duties.

Situación administrativa (administrative situation)

Each of the circumstances in which a guard can be regarding service: active, leave, reserve, suspension, and so on.

Concurso-oposición

A selection system that combines an assessment of merits (concurso) with exams to pass (oposición).

Reserva (reserve)

A situation before retirement in which the guard leaves their posting but can be called for police duties if public security requires it.

gender violence

Violence a woman suffers from a current or former partner because she is a woman.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries