The Spanish National Police Corps (MIR-DGP, Ministry of Interior - Police General Directorate), is responsible among other duties (according to Spanish Law Royal Decree 1181/2008, July 11th, 2008), for organising and managing compliance with alien laws, including border checks, as well as the organisation and management of the issuance of identity documents and passports for Spanish citizens. In particular, the Aliens and Borders General Commissariat is the organisational unit in charge of border controls, applying alien law and also liaising with pan-European and other supra-national bodies, such as Frontex. Out of a 60.000- strong force the Spanish National Police dedicates a total of 1.800 policemen to border control duties, covering 74 Border Crossing Points in Spain (37 air borders, 34 sea borders and 3 land borders, including the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla).
Given the geo-strategic position of Spain, both as one of the gates to/from Northern Africa, and as a hub for Latin America, along with the increasing migration pressure; CNP believes that the rationalisation of Border Control, in terms of cost-containment, facilitation and security, lies in the application of automated and assisted border control tools, among which ABC gates are to play a substantial role. Hence, CNP has already deployed 24 ABC gates in operation in the airports of Madrid and Barcelona, where two different concepts of passenger flow have been validated (the mantrap and a kiosk+gate solution in which the passenger is not trapped between two doors). Moreover, the Spanish ABC solution is the only one routinely combining facial and fingerprint biometrics (for Spanish eID card and for 2nd generation passports). At the E.U. level, the Spanish National Police works closely with Frontex in these matters, and has been a member of the Frontex working group of Best Practices on ABC since its inception, actively contributing to its documents and publications.