Spanish Minister of Territorial Policy Ángel Víctor Torres and Secretary of State for Security Aina Calvo demanded dedicated police patrol cars outside their hotels during a recent weekend visit to the autonomous city of Ceuta.
The deployment of static overnight units drew sharp criticism from local law enforcement commanders, who warned that guarding political figures stretched resources thin while thousands of migrants remained in the North African enclave.
Calvo, who serves as the second-ranking official under Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, stayed at the Parador Nacional de Turismo on Saturday night. She requested that the Ceuta National Police Headquarters station a parked patrol vehicle in the immediate area to secure the premises where she spent the night.
Torres, who is currently heading the central government's unified command managing the migration situation in Ceuta under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, made a similar demand. He requested that a patrol car remain parked in front of the Hotel Ulises throughout the night of his stay in the city.
Police Resistance to Static Security
Police sources stated that the requested vehicles constituted an extraordinary addition beyond the official protection details that routinely accompany cabinet members. Standard security protocols prepared by the regional headquarters for visiting dignitaries already include plainclothes vehicles, extra escorts, and heightened area surveillance.
Between Sunday night and Monday, leadership at the National Police Headquarters in Ceuta ordered an immediate end to the fixed positions. Police commanders determined that keeping officers stationed at stationary locations severely impaired public safety operations across the city.
Instead of maintaining fixed guarding posts, headquarters instructed a mobile patrol unit to perform periodic drive-bys past the hotels hosting Torres and Calvo.
Rising Tensions Over Local Resources
Law enforcement commanders expressed growing frustration with frequent political visits to Ceuta, stating that officers should not be assigned to act as bodyguards when local police forces are already overwhelmed on a daily basis. Top officials argued that withdrawing officers from street patrols to guard politicians was counterproductive.
The dispute comes amid heightened security demands in Ceuta, where thousands of migrants remain in the city following an irregular mass entry of around 80,000 foreign nationals from Morocco through the Tarajal border crossing one month ago.
Ceuta is a Spanish autonomous city located on the North African coast, sharing a land border with Morocco. Positioned across the Strait of Gibraltar, the enclave represents one of the European Union's two land borders in Africa, making it a focal point for regional migration policy and border security.
The Unified Police Union also criticized the arrangement, faulting the Ministry of the Interior for demanding extra security efforts from local officers while failing to address pressing workplace safety concerns, including ongoing outbreaks of scabies among staff.
