Nah it's nothing like it used to be during the dictatorship. We don't have the same police as the rest of the country. Spanish police is called "Guardia civil" but there's very few of those around here in Catalonia. We have our own police brigade, just like Scotland has its own, for instance, and they're called "Mossos d'Esquadra" as you can see in the picture. I have never seen brown-uniformed guys, that must've been a long time ago. But yeah, times have changed, since we became a democratic state police can't abuse their power like they used to.

Whereabouts in Spain have you been?

well...police men here are big. i haven't seen a police man who was under 100 kg. :cool: not to say fat but just broad shoulders and tall like 6+ feet. like club security guys. you don't really want to argue with them.. :cool:
on the other hand we hare have a saying - "a guy becomes a real man only when he is over 100 kg"
not to mention alfa squad from riot division. when those guys came out when there was a riot - holy s**t :cool:

I was born in Madrid and lived there from 1965-1986.... Left to the USAF in Japan and stopped by my parents home in 1990 while on leave.... That was the last time I was there....

Been pretty much everywhere there... Last time I was in Barcelona, the Olympics were still 15 years away and the seaside area was very ugly and undeveloped....My what an Olympics can do....

haha true. I don't remember what it was like back then before the Olympics cause I was ver little, but I've seen picture and it's like a whole different place.

So, Madrid huh... Are you a Real Madrid supprter? Cause if you are, I'm afraid our conversation ends here. :cool:

Now I'm curious as to why someone born in Spain would wanna join the US air force.

Well, yes, I'm from Spain, born and raised, but I'm not Spanish, even though I was born in a Spanish hospital.

To sum it up as short as possible:
My mother was born in the Philippines before the Japanese invaded. My grandfather was the director of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (a Spanish bank) in Manila and was sent to Cebu City. Once the war was over, the family packed up and moved back to Spain (Donostia).

My father was born in Butte, Montana and joined the Air Force during the Korean War. He was stationed in Germany, then Libya, Morocco and finally the new AB in Torrejon, Spain.

They met at the base, since she got a job there because so few people spoke English, they hired her because she was raised with English in the P.I. They got married and had three kids. I have U.S. citizenship from birth, so that's how I can join the USAF. The rest of my family on my mother's side is Spanish, totally, since all my aunts and uncle changed their citizenship from Filipino to Spanish the minute they got back to Spain.

My name in Spain (under their naming system) would be Juan Braden Sainz Moyle Ascasibar....totally Basque....I lived downtown Madrid and grew up feeling more Spanish than American.

And while I am a fan of Real Madrid and remember going as a kid to the Santiago Bernabeu many times to watch games and eat "pipas", I am not as fervent a fan as my brother. I have no enemosity, even sports-related to el Barca and its fans....:mtongue:

Being from Baltimore, the cops there are ruthless. Having one of the highest murder rates (if not the highest; I know it's held the title before) in the entire US, most cops take a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach to their job.
Even my public school was like a jail. We had metal detectors at the doors, police with mace and firearms patrolled the school, and we weren't allowed to have backpacks or heavy coats to help to try and cut down on concealed weaponry.
The police force is stacked and ready to cut people down if need be.

The police in my country is divided in three polices "Polícia Militar"(Military Police) takes care of patrol and security of the streets, "Polícia Civil" (Civil Police) takes care of solve murders, do investigative work and sometimes they act in the security too with the Military Police. Military Police and Civil Police are controlled by the power of your corresponding states. The last is the "Polícia Federal" (Federal Police)responsable to take care of imigration, terrorism, international investigative works (international contraband of guns, drugs... ) and borders patrol.

It is very interesting that you have written about this. My Japanese friend belongs to Amnesty International and she along with others fights for justice for those wrongly accused in Japan

Richmond, California, USA; Oakland, California, USA: I live very close to these areas.

Generally, the police here are fairly professional. There are some officers that I found that were friendly and polite, and there were some that weren't. When they're doing business, naturally, they can be quite straightforward, in which cases, it can be difficult to judge their personalities.

As far as response speed goes... I would say usually around 2-4 minutes. But I wouldn't stick to that number confidently.

In terms of treating people... it depends on whether you're the suspect or not. Again, I live close to some rough neighborhoods; I know people from these areas; I've have some experience in these areas. People here would have you believe the police are ruthless and corrupt -- and maybe some are -- I don't deny that at all. But, here, I've never truly fallen for the street rebel-versus-conformist mentality. Many people here are not well educated and don't understand some of the police protocol. They get offended when asked to step back or show their hands. They shout abuse when someone is wrestled to the ground. And many don't realize, when you simply refuse to follow directions, especially when it regards officer or citizen safety, you can be put in handcuffs.

At Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil... We have BOPE "special forces", when the police can not arrest the criminal usually they call the BOPE and the criminal is killed.