Directorate-General for Security (Spain)

Origins and creation

On March 24, 1858, a General Directorate of Security and Public Order was created, with Manuel Ruiz del Cerro appointed to the position.^[3] However, this body had a very short existence, and was dissolved in October of that year. In 1886, a General Directorate of Security was re-established under the Ministry of the Interior to centralize all existing police services and security forces.^[4][5] Marshal Antonio Dabán y Ramírez de Arellano was appointed as its first Director General of Security .  The agency was abolished in July 1888, but was re-established at the end of 1912. From then on, the new agency became an important instrument of government public order policies.

Between June 1921 and November 1923 the organization was called "General Directorate of Public Order", later recovering its original name.

Spanish Civil War and Falangist Spain

After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the DGS (Directorate General of Security) came under Republican control, but proved powerless to control the extrajudicial killings , secret prisons , and other "uncontrolled acts" that became commonplace in the early months.  In those days of July, the Director of Security, Alonso Mallol, was horrified by the situation and was unable to effectively curb it.  

Following the end of the Civil War and the establishment of the Francoist dictatorship, the latter profoundly reorganized the DGS, concentrating numerous services under its direct control and thereby increasing its power.^[6]  The policy of the victorious side was far from national reconciliation and was based entirely on the vision of victory over the vanquished .  The new Law for State Security further emphasized this new character of the DGS.  ]

José Ungría Jiménez was appointed the new director general immediately after the end of the war, and José Finat y Escrivá de Romaní succeeded him.^[7]  In fact, Escrivá de Romaní would become known for his extremely harsh repression and even invited Heinrich Himmler to visit Madrid, with the idea of establishing police collaboration with the Gestapo.  

From 1941, the DGS was entrusted with the task of monitoring public morality and compliance with the rules imposed based on directives on conduct and dress drawn up by the Catholic Church. During the summer period especially, the DGS reported on these instructions (the use of "indecent bathing garments" was prohibited, requiring coverage of the chest and back, and the mandatory use of skirts for women and sports trousers for men) and imposed fines "on those who did not observe behavior in accordance with the required morality."

Its headquarters, which at this time was located in the Royal Post Office in the Puerta del Sol (Madrid), became notorious as a torture center, with well-known cases such as those of the communist leader Julián Grimau, President Companys, and the socialist leader Tomás Centeno ,  the latter of whom died under mysterious circumstances in the offices of the Directorate General.  The period of Carlos Arias Navarro as Director General, under the ministry of Camilo Alonso Vega, was particularly marked by repression.^[8] The General Police Corps also had offices in the Puerta del Sol, including those of the Political-Social Brigade

On September 13, 1974, the armed organization ETA-V Assembly carried out the so-called Calle del Correo bombing by planting a powerful bomb in the nearby Rolando cafeteria. The target was the numerous police officers who frequented the establishment, but of the thirteen people killed by the explosion, only one was a police officer. ETA never dared to claim responsibility for the attack.

Dissolution

Following Franco's death and the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy, in 1978 the DGS was reorganized to adapt it to the realities of the time.  In 1979 the agency was abolished, becoming the current Directorate-General of the Police.^[9]