EL MUNDO newspaper (Madrid), 5 April 2005.

Report-Survey regarding the ERTZAINTZA

Introductory translator’s note: The police force of the regional Basque government known as the ERTZAINTZA was created by the 1979 Basque Country’s Statute of Autonomy (Guernica Statute). This was the first time in history that a police force was established for the Basque provinces. This force was created ex novo without the permanent participation of any Spanish National Police or Civil Guard members. The Basque police force has always been headed by leaders of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).

The Ertzaintza has exclusive competence for maintaining all aspects of law and order in its territory except those related to terrorism in which State security forces also become involved. These latter forces are also responsible for protecting international borders.

From the time of its creation, 100% of the funds used to pay for this Basque police force have been disbursed by the Spanish Government, including police academy premises and training (in accordance with Royal Decree 3531/1981 of 29 December, BOE 2 March 1982) and the salaries earned by these police officers are higher than those paid to any other Spanish security force member.

Report-Survey regarding the ERTZAINTZA. Part 1.

Seventy-five percent of the ertzainas (police officers) claim that verbal orders have been issued instructing them not to take action against ETA satellite organisations

Three quarters of the Ertzaintza police officers state that on one occasion or another they have either been personally instructed or have witnessed the issuing of verbal orders instructing them to refrain from taking action against ETA satellite organisations and 80% hold the opinion that political and party criteria take precedence over police criteria according to a survey taken among this police force. Nearly 100% of the police officers suffer from lack of motivation in carrying out their duties.

Orders to not take action against ETA satellite organisations, police decisions taken based on political or party criteria, lack of motivation. Three quarters of the Ertzaintza police officers claim to have either been personally instructed or have witnessed the issuing of verbal orders on one occasion or another calling on them to refrain from taking action against ETA satellite organisations and 80% hold the opinion that police decisions are taken based on political and party criteria.

These are just some of the results of a survey carried out among nearly 10% of the Ertzaintza police staff (with the collaboration of the CCOO trade union and the technical coordination of Sigma Dos for the EL MUNDO newspaper) highlighting truly frightening data concerning the situation of the police officers of the Citizen Safety Division of the Basque police force responsible for combating ETA terrorist satellite organisations in the Basque Country.

One of the very significant results emerging was a denouncement of the criteria behind the orders received by the Ertzaintza administration as they carry out their policing duties, a denouncement that has been lodged repeatedly by the non-nationalist trade unions ever since the time when Juan María Atutxa (PNV) headed the regional Department of the Interior (during most of the 90 decade). Nearly half of the officers surveyed, 49%, affirmed that the decisions taken by their superiors are based on political criteria while a further 31% state that party guidelines are what determine police policy.

In other words, 80% of the officers surveyed claim that the policing duties assigned to them by officials at the Department of the Interior are not strictly related to law enforcement guidelines. Indeed, only 2% expressed a different opinion and 14.6% held the view that their superiors lack clearly defined criteria. But although the opinion of the regular police officers is surprising, that of the inspectors of the Ertzaintza is even more striking: only 5% of the latter confirmed that the criteria applied by high ranking officials is strictly professional.

More serious still: that prevailing opinion is also held by the majority of the police officers who voted for the nationalist trade union (ELA). More than half of ELA supporters believe that the action guidelines are political and 17% believe that they have to do with party criteria. Javier Balza (PNV) heads the Department in question (since 2001).

And if this issue appears serious, the responses to the next question are at least as disconcerting: “In combating ETA satellite organisations as an ertzaina in the Citizen Security Division, have you personally received or witnessed others receiving direct or indirect verbal orders to refrain from taking action?” Only 26.4% stated that they had never received or witnessed instructions of this nature while almost 40% responded that they have seen this occur “several times”; 19.3% claim that it occurs “quite often" and a further 5.2% responded affirmatively adding that they paid no heed to such instructions "when this was possible". 9.5% either “did not know or did not answer”.

In this section as well as throughout most of the survey, the supporters of ELA share the same opinion as the officers who are inclined towards other trade unions.

The full analysis of the situation facing this police force comprised of 7,500 officers was carried out between March 16 and 22 2005 thanks to the interview questionnaires that participants voluntarily filled out on an individual basis from a total of 13 police stations throughout Guipuzcoa (6), Vizcaya (5) and Alava (2). A total of 737 interview questionnaires were filled out by police officers accounting for approximately 10% of the entire staff but, according to the trade unions, the large number of officers on leave leads one to believe that the percentages are higher still than those reflected in the study.

The survey has a very serious implication which is further compounded considering that it applies to a police force fighting against ETA satellite organisations: almost all of the officers of this division (98%) feel unmotivated in their work. Even those who have been working for less than 10 years on the force share this same widespread opinion.

The majority (70%) admit that this lack of motivation is due to the disciplinary harassment that they suffer as well as to political motives, labour issues or terrorist pressure. It is surprising that this latter aspect was only mentioned by 0.5% of the police officers while the question of labour issues accounted for 24% of the complaints. Political motives explaining the lack of motivation accounted for 5% while disciplinary harassment was mentioned by 4%.

All of these aspects lead to an almost unanimous diagnosis: 92.8% of those surveyed rated the performance of Javier Balza (PNV), who apparently will be relieved of his duties in this Department if his party wins the upcoming elections, as "poor" or "very poor", compared to a meagre 0.9% who viewed his performance as "good" or "very good".

The fact is that over the last few years, several Ertzaintza trade unions have expressed their vigorous opposition to the working conditions imposed by Department of the Interior officials. This belligerence against said Department ended with the last trade union elections held in 2002 when ELA regained the absolute majority that it had had years before.

The most common complaints have to do with officers on sick leave meaning that the rest of the regional police have to work overtime; transfers to other lines of work, i.e. the uncertainty surrounding the future of those ertzainas (agents) who cannot continue with street patrol duty and precarious security measures, to name just a few.

It should also be pointed out that in the 2002 trade union elections, of the 7,078 officers with voting rights, only 5,484 actually exercised that right. The trade unions attributed this huge gap to the very high level of absenteeism within the ranks of the Ertzaintza. In that election, ELA was the trade union with the highest number of votes (2,125) outpacing Erne (the independent Basque police trade union) by only 102 votes followed by CCOO with 778 votes which, in turn, was followed at a considerable distance by SIPE (Professional Ertzaintza Trade Union).

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EL MUNDO newspaper, 6 April 2005.

Report-Survey regarding the ERTZAINTZA. Part 2.

90% of the ertzainas (police officers) believe that their superiors hold back information obtained from ETA

The survey carried out among 737 Citizen Security officers revealed that nearly all of them feel that the data offered by the Department of the Interior to justify its administration are not “reliable”.

While the first part of the survey regarding the situation of the Ertzaintza – published in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper – indicated that practically all of the Citizen Security officers feel that political and party line decisions prevail over those taken based strictly on policing criteria, the results presented today indicate that there is nearly unanimous mistrust on the part of the ertzainas towards their superiors in respect of the flow of information captured from ETA.

The study, carried out with the collaboration of the CCOO trade union and with the technical coordination help of Sigma Dos for EL MUNDO, reveals that over 90% of the ertzainas believe that the Department of the Interior fails to inform them regularly and expediently concerning information obtained from ETA, not even when an officer is singled out as an ETA target.

Additionally, there is another more general bit of information which casts a doubt over the credibility of the force with regard to the overall results of its policing activity. In the view of 93.3% of the police officers surveyed – a total of 737 people accounting for nearly 10% of the total force – the statistics drawn up by the Department of the Interior to justify their administration are not reliable. This opinion is shared by the majority of all ertzainas regardless of their trade union affiliation.

This is also indicative of a political situation: the Citizen Security officers contradict one of the premises used by the Lehendakari (Basque Government President), Juan José Ibarretxe (PNV), to justify implementation of his proposal for the New Statute (the Ibarretxe Plan): that his plan will bring peace to Euskadi. Despite the fact that the nationalist trade union ELA is the majority group in this police force, 65.2% of those surveyed feel that the implementation of the Ibarretxe Plan will not eliminate violent behaviour perpetrated by ETA satellite groups and only 16% of those surveyed (this figure rises to 27% among ELA supporters) feel certain that this proposal will allow for the eradication of terrorist satellite group violence.

The surveys, individually filled out at 13 different Basque police stations, also point to other negative conclusions involving the force’s managers and related to police officer resources, the support they perceive from their superiors or the management of public monies in terms of investments.

The survey covers these aspects in two broad sections: situation and beliefs and policing decisions.

The first includes the perceptions of the ertzainas (police officers) regarding the information they receive from the Department of the Interior related to the fight on terror, the backing that they sense from their superiors, the use made of public resources for private aims and the opinion they hold regarding the Department’s economic management.

In addition to the fact that the officers themselves do not even trust the statistics offered by the Department of the Interior and that their own superiors also fail to inform them with regard to information captured from ETA, those surveyed also admitted to not feeling fully supported by the Department in combating the violence perpetrated by ETA satellite groups. 66.2% completely disagreed with the following premise: “Ertzaintza officers from the Citizen Security Division feel fully backed and supported by the Department of the Interior in their daily struggle to protect the society from the violence of ETA satellite groups.”

This percentage is further heightened by another 27% who simply disagreed with this statement meaning that the global figure of those in disagreement rises to 93.2%.

The officers were also critical of the use of public resources – unmarked cars, mobile phones – for private use. In the view of nearly 80% of the officers, the political managers at the Department of the Interior permit these practices undertaken by “those who should be preventing and sanctioning them” compared with 14.7% who do not believe that these situations take place.

The survey goes on to take aim against three of the aspects most criticised by police trade unions: the effect of the Ertzaintza bureaucratic apparatus, the action taken by the Disciplinary Unit with regard to the officers themselves and the lack of attention paid to basic needs of material.

In the first case, more than 92% of the ertzainas agree with the assessment that the dismantling of the “bureaucratic police apparatus that the Ertzaintza has become as a result of successive Interior Department administrations” will allow the Citizen Security Division to lend much more effective service to citizens even if due only to the simple increase in the number of police on the street. In this respect it should be mentioned, although anecdotal, that 20% of UGT trade union supporters disagree with this affirmation.

Nearly 90% also hold the view that the Ertzaintza Disciplinary Unit “unfairly pursues and harasses” Citizen Security officers while "closing its eyes in the case of higher ranking officials or those of the same political persuasion."

This percentage is very similar to the one reflected in the criticisms lodged against the Basque Department of the Interior for not covering basic material needs or for the way it has constructed a valid communications system, for example. Only 5.5% of those surveyed disagree with this affirmation compared to 92.5% who agree.