A member of Spain’s Guardia Civil police force has been suspended for six months without pay after he spent an evening drinking rum cocktails in a brothel near Toledo when he was supposed to be on surveillance duty. The supreme court upheld the officer’s suspension, describing his behaviour as “conduct seriously in breach of the Guardia Civil’s dignity” as well as a dereliction of duty.



The officer, who was on patrol with his partner, told his superiors that he was only chatting with friends outside the establishment when he saw some suspicious movement and went inside to investigate. According to the owner of the establishment, however, the officer was exchanging banter with the women who work there while drinking cuba libres for an hour and a half, and entreating his partner in a loud voice to do likewise.



The owner called the local police station to inquire whether it was normal for an armed officer in uniform to be drinking in his club and to ask what he should do. Two patrols were dispatched to the club to investigate.



The court ruled that any Guardia Civil officer who understands what is expected of them in their professional life would realise that going to a brothel armed and in uniform in order to consume alcohol is guilty of conduct that is “indecorous and prejudicial to the service”.

So called “clubs de alterne” – large roadside brothels – can be found across Spain. Customers are encouraged to buy drinks at exorbitant prices and then invited upstairs.

Last summer, the Guardia Civil command prohibited a unit in Tudela in northern Spain from allowing a local brothel to pay for the costs of celebrating the unit’s patron saint, the Virgin of Pilar, even though the donation was “well intentioned”.