The new recruitment process keeps the quota system introduced in 2020, whereby women account for 40% of new recruits (a pioneering measure in the state). The process also seeks to embrace the plurality and diversity of the city of Barcelona and will therefore consider knowledge of English, Chinese, Arabic or Urdu all as scoring merits.
Barcelona City Council aims for the City Police to have 3,500 officers by 2023, the highest number in the history of the corps, thus fulfilling one of the most notable government agreements for this term of office.
New aspects to the competitive entry exam process
This call continues to introduce new aspects for the corps to increasingly reflect Barcelona’s society. Recent years have seen recruitment processes for the City Police adopt measures to promote the incorporation of more women, as well as considering the knowledge of English a scoring merit. This new call is the first time that the knowledge of Chinese, Arabic or Urdu are also considered merits.
This is the first time it will be possible to postpone the physical exam in the case of women who are pregnant at the time, as well as those accrediting post-natal situations of up to 16 weeks after the birth of a child. In this case, the selection board will give a new date for the test, which will have to be taken before the publication of the list of proposed candidates for the training stage. This flexibility will apply to recruitment processes for the City Police and the Fire Service alike.
The new aspects introduced this year come in addition to the quota applied in the last City Police recruitment process for women to account for 40% of new officers, the goal being to redress the current imbalance.
The increase in the number of City Police officers and the changes introduced in the last recruitment processes are fundamental for the corps to get closer to citizens and the city’s 73 neighbourhoods, to carry out existing prevention work and introduce new tasks in different spheres.
The competitive entry process for the corps is due to start in March 2021 with the registration of candidates. Full information can be found from the first week of March on the website barcelona.cat/oposicions2021.