The dark origins of the police in Spain. The last days of absolutism

Abstract

The so-called Esquilache mutiny in 1766 hastened the reform of the urban police system in the Spain of Charles III. Nevertheless, it was in 1824 during the reign of Ferdinand VII when the creation of the General Police of the Kingdom statewide took place. An institution that ended up being another instrument of political control of Fernandino absolutism. New institutions such as the Police were created for the eradication of liberalism replacing the Inquisition due to its ineffectiveness against conspiratorial activities. Since the absolute restoration of the monarch in October 1823, we have noticed this transfer of competences in favor of the Police in the legislation intended for the repression of liberalism. For this reason, Fernando VII did not decide to restore an institution so reviled in Europe, despite the pressures from the apostolic sector of absolutism. Consequently, both liberals and ultra-realists considered the new police as a substitute for the Inquisition, being one of the causes among which are police practices and the fostering of denunciation to capture liberals that have motivated this vision so negative that it has reached us up to today.