The province of Alicante currently has a combined shortfall of more than 500 agents of the Guardia Civil and the National Police.
According to the establishments of both organisations, in the Alicante province there should be 2,387 national policemen and 2,685 civil guards, or 5,072 officers in total, if the police units are complete and of the necessary strength to operate with their optimal numbers. But the truth is that in the National Police there are only 2,066 active officers (321 fewer) and in the Guardia 2,470 (215 less than the numbers required).
The figure shows a shortfall of 536 agents for Alicante, although this situation is repeated across all Spanish provinces, with shortages in all, with Alicante as the tenth with the greatest needs, behind Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona, Baleares, A Coruña, Malaga, Zaragoza and Tenerife.
The data was provided following a question in the Cortes Generales (Parliament), by the socialist deputy Antonio Trevín, which revealed that there are 22,000 fewer agents in Spain than the established numbers required.
The deficit is higher in the National Police, with 64,487 agents currently active, 13,651 fewer than the 78,138 optimum strength, while the Civil Guard numbers show the current established strength at 85,263, but currently there are only 76,928 active, 8,335 fewer than the number required. A total of 21,986 under the established strength of the two forces.
Madrid “leads” this deficit with 2,800 less understrength, followed by Seville with 1,268 and Valencia with 1,236. And in Alicante it is noticeable that the lack of personnel is greater in the National Police, with 321 less, despite having a smaller staff than the Civil Guard, where there are “only” missing 215 agents.
