Guipuzcoan ertzainas wanted | Mail

Mikel is 42 years old, from Bilbao, and owns a property in Sestao. In the Ertzaintza ecosystem, Mikel (not his real name) can consider himself lucky for a simple reason: many Biscaynes have to travel every day to the police stations in Álava and especially in Guipúzcoa to work. The reason why so many Ertzainas have to travel every day is precisely the important geographical imbalance that exists in the Basque police when it comes to the sources of their agents. That is why when Mikel fell in love and asked to be transferred to the police station in Guipúzcoa, his colleagues just “waved him off”. For the Biscaynes, because it freed one of the coveted squares in this territory. For the Guipúzcos, because “there are not enough volunteers to work here either,” explains one of their friends.

This anecdote could explain why El Zainca has suffered for years from a shortage of Gipuzkoan police officers. This problem, in addition to forcing the mobilization of hundreds of ertzainas, has also led to internal tensions over the allocation of places. Just a few days ago, the Basque Minister of Security, Estefanía Beltrán de Heredia, herself encouraged the people of Gipuzkoa to apply for new promotions – 24 – that will bring 120 new ertzainas to the streets. It was an unusual public moment that exposed a problem that has existed for years: not many residents of Gipuzkoa want to become ertzainas.

In this case, statistics are decisive. Although Guipúzcoa represents 32.5% of the population of the Basque Country in the census (2.1 million inhabitants in 2013, according to the INE), only 15.8% of the autonomous police are from Guipúzcoa. Biscaynes are the majority of the Ertzaintza, accounting for 63% of its members, while the region only represents 52.7% of the autonomous community’s population. Alava is more evenly represented in the Basque police. The Basque Country census included 13.5% of the population, while Aravacos account for 14.8%. The remaining 7.4% of the ertzainas come from outside the community.

“They didn’t even offer us coffee”

Logically, the lack of applicants from the province of Guipúzcoa can also be seen in the various entrance exams conducted at the Alcourt Police Academy. Above all, in those years when the threat posed by ETA to this police force was most evident. In 2001, for example, 1,785 people applied for the 17th promotion, in which 281 new agents were to be included. The vast majority of applicants at that time (just over 70%) were from Bizkaia. The province of Guipúzcoa represented 15.4% and the province of Álava 12.6%. In addition, the Ministry of the Interior at that time also had difficulties in completing the promotions it requested, one of the reasons being the pressure from ETA.

How to explain these significant differences in the origin of the drugs? The different sources consulted indicate that it is a response full of nuances, but almost all agree to point to two clear reasons: the attacks of terrorist groups and the Kale Boroca attacks have been particularly severe in the province of Guipúzcoa over the years, such as the two murders of agents of Bisén or the attacks on vans with firebombs. On the other hand, the socio-economic situation in this region has been less affected by the crisis and unemployment than in Vizcaya and Álava. In fact, although at this point there are also arguments to reduce the extent of its impact on this phenomenon, Guipúzcoa currently has an unemployment rate (14.4%) three percentage points lower than in the other territories. And its economic structure, more supported by small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives, has allowed its labor market to resist in better conditions. “If you look closely, you will see that many of the ertzainas who joined in the early 90s came from the left bank, which was hit particularly hard by deindustrialization,” explains a police officer.

Some sociologists also point out that the “anti-repressive and anti-militarist consciousness” of a section of Basque society may also have influenced the degree to which the police profession is “not particularly valued” in many environments. But above all, the attacks by ETA on the Basque police, and the “environmental pressure” against El Zaenza felt in many towns in the province of Guipúzcoa under the rule of the nationalist left, have had a decisive impact.

“When two of my lifelong friends found out that I became an ertzaina, they stopped talking to me and stopped saying hello to me. I’m from Bilbao, which is a fairly large city, well, imagine what it’s like in a small town. Of course there are those who want to sign up but don’t dare because there is still a part of their neighbourhood that can’t stand us and doesn’t want to be singled out,” said a police officer who has served in the province of Guipúzcoa for many years. “Now it’s starting to change, but in some towns they don’t even serve us coffee in the bar,” recalled another agent.