Security forces will now have restrictions enforced when body searching
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A new law details reforms to how security forces can carry out body searches following discussion on how best to manage sensitive and topical issues such as gender identity.
In the light of new approaches and rules regarding gender and gender identity, police will now have to respect this during security checks or frisking, even if the situation is urgent. PSOE and Bildu (the left-wing nationalist and pro-independence Basque party) have signed the new Citizen Security Law (Ley de Seguridad Ciudadana), which includes provisions requiring police to respect individuals’ gender identities to the fullest extent possible. The law is currently being passed through Congree and will consist of various conditions which Security Forces must adhere to when carrying out routine checks or when frisking a suspect for drug use or carrying arms. This includes during emergency situations.
Body searches will need to be justified and gender identity respected
Up to now, checks have always been concurrent with the law, which establishes that if there is evidence or reason to believe that a person is carrying illegal objects or weapons, security forces can carry out external and superficial body searches. The recent legislation agreed between socialists and pro-ETA incorporates something new to this law: police will now have to prove that any searches have a rational and objective base and will have to justify this accordingly. It also stipulates that where security forces must carry out checks which require exposing certain parts of the body outside police stations, this too may only be undertaken if there is a serious or imminent risk to security forces or to the public.
Further restrictions include taking maximum care when parts of the body need to be exposed for frisking. It will be prohibited for someone arrested to be subjected to a full body check without clothing, or to successive body checks of different parts of the body. There needs to be maximum respect for gender identity and due to the intimate nature of these searches, they should be carried out discreetly and out of the view of third parties. As part of the reforms to the Citizen Security Law, additional changes include downgrading the offense of disobedience to authorities—such as failing to comply with a legal order—from a serious to a minor infraction, provided it does not involve a criminal offence. Other alterations to the law involve the use of rubber bullets. The new law will oblige security forces to use “the least harmful means as a deterrent and to avoid methods that cause irreparable injuries” and to “progressively replace the use of kinetic projectiles called rubber bullets with others that are less harmful.”
Police feel unprotected following new concessions related to body searches and arrest
In retaliation to these new reforms, security forces claim to feel unprotected. Arrested members of the public will not be sanctioned should they take pictures of security forces in action and this compiled with aforementioned concessions is certainly leaving security agents feeling that the tables have turned as to who has ultimate control. In response to this, a protest has already been called by several police organisations for November 6 in front of Congress to present their opposition to the government’s pact with Bildu.
