BARCELONA – A serious computer system failure has left Spain’s police unable to automatically filter criminal records for foreigners for the past two months, forcing officers to carry out thousands of manual checks every day.
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The technical glitch, which began on December 10, affects the automated system used by the National Police to quickly discard residency applications from individuals with criminal records. As a result, officers must now manually verify every single application against national and regional police databases.
The Unified Police Syndicate (SUP) issued a public warning on Tuesday, urging the government to resolve the problem urgently. Overwhelmed System Amid Mass Regularization The failure comes at a critical moment, as the Pedro Sánchez government prepares to roll out one of the most lenient mass regularization programs in Spain’s recent history. The extraordinary regularization process, expected to benefit hundreds of thousands of irregular migrants, has already triggered a massive influx of applications and widespread reports of fraud.
According to the SUP, before the system failure, specialized units typically handled between 100 and 200 background checks per day. That figure has now skyrocketed to between 1,000 and 2,000 daily checks in many provinces. In Barcelona alone, the backlog of pending cases has reached nearly 30,000, despite officers processing over 10,000 urgent files through extraordinary efforts.
SUP spokesperson Ana María Alarcón emphasized that these manual verifications are not simple administrative tasks but essential security checks directly linked to public safety.
“Police are ensuring that no application is approved without proper verification,” she said. “However, this structural overload is clearly affecting processing times.”
Serious Security Risks
The union warns that if the massive regularization process moves forward without the automated system being fully operational, it could lead to significant delays, increased pressure on police units, and a higher risk of dangerous individuals slipping through the system. Alarcón stressed that manual checks maintain the same level of rigor, but they require far more time and human resources. Without adequate reinforcements, the entire process slows down considerably.
The SUP is demanding: • An urgent technical fix for the automated filtering system • Extraordinary reinforcement of police personnel while the failure persists • Structural strengthening of the police IT services • A realistic contingency plan to prevent future collapses • A proper assessment of the impact this failure may have on the extraordinary regularization process
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“The security of the rule of law and citizen security must go hand in hand,” the union concluded. “Any large-scale administrative process requires robust computer systems and adequately staffed teams.” This technical breakdown has dramatically increased the workload on police units across the country and threatens to compromise the deadlines and security standards of the government’s ambitious migrant regularization plan if urgent measures are not taken.
