Field Trip: Guardia Civil Exhibition

This blog post is coming very late. I would say that I have a great excuse. I would say that I’ve been busy traveling, volunteering at the Spanish Red Cross, or doing a lot of private classes. However, that would be untrue. The truth is that I’ve been exhausted from school and had some personal health issues.

You don’t want to hear about that, though. What you do want to hear about, and I will talk about it briefly, is the fieldtrip that my class went on April 3.

A few weeks ago, my sixth-grade class and I took a cold Wednesday and spent it at the bullfighting ring in Las Rozas. We watched a Guardia Civil (that is, the national police force) exhibition on its use of animals in the field.

First, I’ll set the scene. Imagine a breezy, freezing day sitting on uncomfortable stadium-style seats in a literally stone-cold bullfighting ring. You are surrounded by fidgety, cold, and loud elementary-school children. Then, you’re given a bunch of information about what you’re seeing over speakers, but no one can understand them anyways, let alone that it’s in another language. Consequently, you rely on your teacher next to you to translate the muffled speech. If you add a few songs in there that you had never learned in Spanish class, all-in-all, that was our day.  

Now, what happened? Well, a lot. In a few words, it was a demonstration of what the Guardia Civil does in high-risk situations related to drug-trafficking, violence, domestic terrorism, and kidnapping. To accomplish their job well, this police body must employ a variety of methods to stop, capture, and detain those individuals who would commit these acts and prevent their actions from causing even further harm.

One of the main methods that it employs is the use of animals, specifically canines. Their dogs completed several tasks marvelously. In one dramatic scene, a man tried to assassinate a prominent political figure. He was stopped before he could commit his crime, but he left a bag behind. The speaker asked the crowd if he should get close to the gym bag. The reply: NO WAY! Therefore, they called the explosives-sniffing canine. It easily detected the threat and sat down to alert everyone of the danger. Then, the bomb-squad was called, and the bag was neutralized by a controlled explosion.

In another scene, which was the height of the day’s drama, a man with a gun had kidnapped a famous Hollywood actor. His friend had already been captured, so he was alone. From inside his car he started to goad the police to come closer. The officers sent their canine, instead. In a few seconds, the dog had bounded across the ring, jumped up to window of the car, and pulled the man out by his gun-wielding arm. The two policemen were on him in a second.

In addition to bomb-sniffing and yanking criminals from cars, these canines can do a lot more. One detected a large stash of drugs that someone was attempting to carry on a plane. Another found a hidden knife that had wounded a police officer. Finally, two more discovered a bag of stolen money and stopped a man from using his knife on and running away from the police. What an array of skills and competencies! Overall, these small, furry, and loveable creatures can accomplish some incredible feats of courage and sacrifice for the greater good.

Towards the end, they brought out the equestrian units and did a well-choreographed dance on horseback. However, it was clear that the main stars were the dogs because my students kept talking about them long after the exhibition.