Hi there,
Since I went to live in Spain, I have never heard positive comments about the police. Quite the contrary.
The few times I had to ask the policemen on the street for directions, they always stood out for their rudeness and because they didn’t even look me in the eye. It is as if they felt superior to other human beings. When I had to do errands, they have also blown me away by their lack of intelligence.
That said, after spending two weeks in quarantine without leaving the house because it was Diego who went to the supermarket, I decided to go to another market that was a 15-minute walk from the house. Not because I needed to go out, but because I wanted to buy some specific things.
As soon as I crossed the street, a patrol stopped me, and they started asking me where I was going.
The police are experts in the shopping list
The first nonsense they told me was that I had to go to the supermarket that was next to my house, and I couldn’t go to the one I always go to because it’s a 15-minute walk away.
I explained to the police that I always went to that supermarket because I found the products I eat. One of the policemen began to ask me what I ate and one by one he made a list of what, according to him, I could find in the supermarket next to my house.
They also told me repeatedly that “they understood that I wanted to go to the other supermarket because it was cheaper.” At what point had I told them that the other supermarket was cheaper? Had they even bothered to listen to what I had said?
When in normal countries they are restricting vehicle traffic, in Spain they do the opposite
How was I going to go to the other supermarket that was a 15-minute walk away?
For those long trips you had to go by car. So, if I go to Mercadona by car, is there no problem? Who wrote that quarantine law?
I wasn’t nice at all because it annoys me that I must waste my time on incompetent people.
Since they already had me annoyed by repeating the same stupid thing over and over again, I told them “Ok, I’m not going to Mercadona because supposedly I can’t and I’m not going to Consum because it’s out of stock; So, I go home, and I don’t eat. Thank you”. I turned and started walking towards my building.
This time they came after calling me to ask for identification. Why didn’t they ask me from the beginning before wasting my time?
I told them I had the ID at my house. They stood at the door of the building waiting for me to bring the identification. It took me more than 20 minutes to go back down and this time my boyfriend accompanied me.
To my surprise, they were still at the door waiting.
They ask for your ID, but then they don’t verify it
As I am not Spanish, I have a foreign identification number that is a piece of paper without a photo, so you must bring a document with a photo because if not, the NIE is invalid. So, I also gave the policeman the Italian identity card.
The funniest thing is that he didn’t even check it, that is, I could easily have given him a false ID and he wouldn’t have known about it. I could be the most wanted criminal in the world and the police wouldn’t have even noticed. Is that the people prepared and trained to protect citizens?
Most importantly, if you’re not going to check the ID, don’t bother me. Contact is being avoided everywhere, but these people seem to be unaware of prevention measures during the pandemic we are experiencing.
After making me lose an hour, the supposed reason why I can’t go to the supermarket I want comes to light: “You can’t leave the municipality”
The two policemen began to tell my boyfriend the same nonsense again, who told them that everyone went to both supermarkets regardless of whether it was another municipality and that, if the “law” applied to me, it should apply to everyone.
The excuse is that they “hadn’t realized” that the people of this municipality were going to the supermarket of the other municipality. But if they found out, they would fine those people.
They put you on a list
After seeing my ID, they put me on a list that they supposedly put people on when they “break” quarantine for the first time.
How can they know it was the first time if they didn’t check any database?
The logical and normal thing would be that, if each police officer keeps a list of alleged first infractions, then that information is transferred to a database to which all the police officers of the municipality have access from their mobile devices. In this way, they could verify your data and see if you are already on the list or not.
Because it could easily be written down on each piece of paper from each of the policemen and they would never find out.
What is the conclusion after more than an hour lost with these two incompetent police officers?
My boyfriend thinks that since I was wearing shorts and sneakers, the police would think I was going for a walk and not to the supermarket. From now on, we will have to go out in pajamas or a bathrobe to see if they like the outfit better.
If the law supposedly says that we cannot leave the municipality, instead of making me a list of the products that I am going to find in the supermarket that is next to my house, limit yourself to saying that I cannot leave the municipality.
If you can’t leave the municipality, you start making checks and ask for proof from everyone who travels with vehicles. As they are doing in normal countries.
Don’t contradict yourself. You are supposed to be the image of order. If you cannot leave the municipality, you cannot leave on foot or by car. If you tell me that I can go with the vehicle, you don’t look like a very intelligent person.
The next day, my boyfriend drove to the supermarket in the other municipality without any problems.
From my balcony I have seen people walking, socializing, going for a run with the excuse of walking the dog and I even saw a lady entering the pharmacy without gloves or a mask. Where are the policemen who were so keen to check my shopping list?