Guys . A British friend of mine was recently stopped in Madrid and "interrogated " as she put it by the police .
By law here you must carry ID of some sort so please bear that in mind if you´re travelling here . For the Brits , a photocopy of your passport should be sufficient since we don´t have ID cards ( I certainly never carry my passport with me ) .
I´m wondering whether this is connected to the upgrade of a terrorist threat in the UK to " severe " ( highly likely ) . Spain , of course has been the target of one of the worst European terrorist attacks ever. Maybe there´s a crackdown ordered by the authorities here in Spain .
I don´t know yet why they singled her out accept that she´s black and I REALLY hope that wasn´t the reason . When I get more info I´ll pass it on . She is not a happy lady right now .
The reason . I´m posting this is that in 5 years of living here I´ve never heard of this sort of thing happening . I´ve been asked for my "papers" many times in Moscow but never in Spain .

That IS surprising!! Was the friend SURE it was the real police and not these swindlers whom claim to be police to get you to pull out your passport?

Except for the swindlers, I've never heard of such a thing either. Maybe the police have too much time on their hands these days.

Sometimes, citizens/tourists feel that the slightest question by the police is an interrogation and get all bent out of shape. Hope she's not that type to say, "How dare you question me! Don't you know I'm English/American/Australian/Whatever!" to a police-person doing his/her job. I only mention it because there are a lot of these "Ugly Travelers" around.

Saludos, MadridMan

Yeah I understand where you´re coming from on this MM . MY friend is a very intelligent ( and beautiful .. not that that´s relevant ) young lady .. but she is young and maybe she reacted badly ... I´ll find out soon .
I have to say that having had contact with various aspects of the police , I´ve always found them polite and friendly .
If a policeman stopped me in the street and demanded my papers etc.. It wouldn´t be a problem . I can only assume that my friend had a bad experience . Watch this space !
When I get asked for my papers in Moscow , I certainly don´t go crazy and start waving my British passport in their faces ... I´d be in jail before you knew it !
The police and all the emergency services are there to protect ... yes there are some bad apples .. but it´s worth keeping calm with them .

You must carry your ID card always. Our DNI (Documento Nacional de Identidad) was created in 1944 to control the people ( we were under a dictatorship). Nowdays, it is supposed to be a good tool against crime.

I'm afraid your friend was chosen because she's black. They were looking for illegal inmigrants. A lot of my latin pupils have had that kind of "meetings" with the police. Why they pursue inmigrants as criminals is an interesting question that I don't know how to answer.

I'm so sorry.

The problem is PADM that in Reino Unido we do not have ID cards !! Only passports . And i would feel very uncomfortable carrying my passport in the city . So now I have a photocopy of my passport to show the police if they ask .

photocopy is ok, Spanish carry DNI as in most of the UE, I carry my CDI but in Spain I use my old DNI when those days of yesterday, still has my old address on it,and since nieces live there so...

however, they have been some stories in travel forum about Police fakers on tourist/visitors, so a real police will agree to take you to a station if indeed there is an infraction and you are not sure of the validity of the person.

Spain has a problem with immigrants because it is an open port by air, sea,and land then they get into other parts of the UE so the govts have ask for more security there.

Thanks Pedmar ... good information indeed !
I have read about the fake policemen .. And even when I had police arrive at my apartment from the C17 unit they always will show ID if you ask . Also , in España , police will not normally cross the threshold of you house unless you invite them in ! That´s a rule unless they have good information that you are doing something bad .
I´ve said this many times , but it´s worth repeating .. La policía municipal ( Madrid ) , El Cuerpo nacional de Policía , and the Guardia Civil are fantastic here in the City ... They do an amazing job ! Always polite , always helpful and always efficient . Madrid´s finest !

Yes Madrid finest, but do not want to meet them hehehe! There was a time when they were not,and I threw rocks at them and swang baseball bats, but those were the old govt days if you know the history ::)

I was walking through my neighborhood on the way to the metro on Wednesday and noticed the following; A couple of policemen crossed the street and asked a man standing on the corner if he was waiting for someone, he said no, he wasn't waiting for anyone. The policemen then asked him to show some I.D. which he did - as I was walking away. That's when I remembered this thread. The man on the corner was just standing there, arms crossed over his chest, tallish and thin, maybe in his mid-40s and near shoulder-length hair, may have been gypsy. Just standing there. Not sure if he matched a description of someone for whom they were searching or if they were carrying out an order to question (not interrogate) anyone whom didn't seem to belong. Who knows.

I have read and heard on the news that the police, as mentioned earlier, is "cracking down" on immigration. If an illegal immigrant is encountered, he/she is given a warning. After a few warnings (I'm not sure how many), the person can actually be deported. Questioning tends to be at places where there are a lot of immigrants, such as near metro stops, and those who "look like" immigrants or do not look Spanish are normally the people questioned. It's getting harder to be an immigrant here, especially for illegal ones.