Most visitors who spot a red beret in the crowd during San Fermín assume it belongs to the festival itself, since red is the color of the fiesta’s own dress code. It doesn’t. That red txapela is the standing, year round uniform of the Policía Foral de Navarra, one of four separate police forces working Pamplona during San Fermín, each with a different history, jurisdiction, and job. Pamplona’s police forces, despite how most visitors describe them, as one undifferentiated “the police,” actually split responsibility for the festival by function rather than by neighborhood, and knowing which uniform does what determines who a person would actually approach if something goes wrong on the encierro route or in the Casco Antiguo.
This isn’t trivia for a runner or a visitor. The officer holding the fence at La Curva during the encierro isn’t the same one running an alcohol checkpoint on the road into the city, and neither is the one who takes a stolen wallet report at the walk in office on Plaza del Castillo. Approaching the wrong uniform for the wrong problem wastes time during a festival where every morning brings its own six minute emergency. Knowing the difference between Navarra’s own chartered police, the city’s municipal officers, and Spain’s national paramilitary force is the kind of practical knowledge no standard fiesta guide bothers to include.
This account draws on the security operation Navarra’s Junta de Seguridad published for San Fermín 2026 on July 3, cross verified between two independent Navarra outlets, alongside the founding legislation and legal history behind each force: the Policía Foral’s 1928 origin as a highway patrol and its current governing law, the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona’s own 1964 record of unifying its municipal police, and the 1844 founding of the Guardia Civil.
Policía Municipal de Pamplona: The City’s Own Force
The Policía Municipal de Pamplona, known bilingually as Iruñeko Udaltzaingoa, answers to the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona rather than to Navarra’s regional government or Madrid. Spanish law allows any municipality with more than 5,000 residents to run its own police force, and Pamplona’s traces back further than its current form suggests. For generations, two separate bodies operated in parallel: a Guardia Urbana covering the old walled center, and a rural force patrolling the areas outside it. The two were formally merged into a single Cuerpo de Policía Municipal on January 13, 1964, when mayor Miguel Javier Urmeneta brought the unification proposal to the Municipal Assembly. The vote tied twice before the mayor broke it with his own casting vote, and Valeriano Navarro Miranda, previously chief of the rural force, became the new body’s first commander.
The force’s uniform switched from a longtime yellow to blue in April 2018, a change the Ayuntamiento tied explicitly to European Union recommendations and to matching the color already worn by nearly every other local police force in Navarra. A black and white checkered band running across the chest and back, the damero, survived the color change and remains the force’s most recognizable shared marker with other Basque region local police uniforms and vehicles.
During San Fermín, Policía Municipal handles the city’s own front line: roughly 412 officers plus 186 Civil Protection auxiliaries who manage traffic control at fixed points. The force reinforces foot patrol through the Casco Antiguo and staffs dedicated details for the festival’s biggest moments, including more than 160 officers assigned to encierro surveillance each morning, 156 for the Chupinazo opening rocket, and 116 for the July 7 procession. Its Oficina de Denuncias y Atención Ciudadana on Calle Monasterio de Irache runs year round, with a second walk in office on Calle Zapatería open only from July 5 through 14. A 24 hour lost and found service operates for the full nine days, and the joint coordination center where all four forces share access to the city’s security camera network is housed at Policía Municipal’s own headquarters.
Policía Foral de Navarra: The Region’s Chartered Police
The Policía Foral de Navarra, or Nafarroako Foruzaingoa in Basque, began life on October 30, 1928 as the Cuerpo de Policía de Carreteras, a highway patrol created by the old Diputación Foral de Navarra with one narrow job: monitor road traffic and inspect provincial tax compliance on the province’s highways. It was reorganized and renamed Policía Foral in 1964, placed under the direct authority of the Diputación’s vice president, and its responsibilities grew steadily from there. Its legal foundation today sits in the 1978 Spanish Constitution and Navarra’s 1982 charter law, which is what makes it a “foral,” or chartered, force rather than an ordinary regional one. The force currently operates under Ley Foral 23/2018, in force since November 2018, which replaced an earlier 2007 statute and set out its modern duties: guaranteeing public security, acting as judicial police in collaboration with courts and prosecutors, and protecting Navarra’s own government buildings and officials. Full details on the force’s structure and current commissariats are published by the Government of Navarra.
Unlike Spain’s other seventeen regions, Navarra maintains a police force answerable to its own government rather than relying entirely on national forces, a status shared in practice only with the Basque Country and Catalonia. Since 2019, traffic policing on interurban roads, historically a Guardia Civil responsibility, has been progressively handed over to the Policía Foral, following the same transfer already completed years earlier in those two other regions.
The force’s most recognizable marker is its red txapela, worn as a permanent part of the uniform rather than reserved for festival dress. This is a separate tradition from the fiesta’s own red beret, worn by runners and revelers as part of the red and white pañuelo custom, and the two should not be confused even though both draw on the same color. The gala version of the Policía Foral uniform pairs the red beret with a red jacket trimmed in black and black trousers with a red side stripe, while day to day patrol dress is plainer but keeps the beret as the identifying piece.
During San Fermín, Policía Foral deploys roughly 700 officers, its largest festival commitment after Policía Nacional, drawing on nearly every specialty it has. The force is directly responsible for securing the Plaza de Toros during encierros and other events on the daily program, and works jointly with Policía Municipal to clear and hold the encierro route itself each morning before the bulls run, including managing the double fencing that separates the crowd from the course all the way through La Curva, the route’s sharpest and most dangerous turn. Policía Foral also enforces the municipal encierro ordinance’s ban on cameras and recording devices along the course, and staffs a dedicated Oficina de Denuncias y Atención Ciudadana on Plaza del Castillo as the walk in reference point for festival crime victims.
Guardia Civil: Spain’s National Force in a Regional Role
The Guardia Civil is Spain’s oldest continuously operating security force, founded in 1844 by the Duque de Ahumada as a militarized body overseen jointly by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense. That dual oversight is what separates it from Spain’s civilian police bodies: the Guardia Civil is formally a military force, even though its day to day work looks like ordinary policing. Its best known symbol, the black lacquered tricornio, dates to the force’s original 1844 uniform and was popularized during the reign of Isabel II. The hat began as felt before moving to a treated, weather resistant finish by the mid twentieth century, and today it appears almost exclusively at parades, ceremonies, and formal duty rather than on daily patrol, where officers wear a standard cap instead.
Nationally, the Guardia Civil’s mandate has always leaned rural: highways, the countryside, coastlines, and borders, the territory outside Spain’s larger cities where local forces have less reach. In Navarra specifically, that footprint has been shrinking by design. Interurban traffic policing, long a core Guardia Civil task, is being progressively transferred to the Policía Foral, the same shift completed earlier in the Basque Country and Catalonia, with the handover in Navarra expected to run through 2027. What remains is a broad set of specialties: Seguridad Ciudadana work focused on the towns around Pamplona rather than the festival core itself, SEPRONA’s environmental and agricultural enforcement, arms and explosives control, counter terrorism focused Información work, and judicial police collaboration.
During San Fermín, the Guardia Civil deploys roughly 700 officers, concentrated less on the packed festival center and more on the surrounding area: burglary prevention in the towns around Pamplona while residents are out at the fiesta, alcohol and drug checkpoints on the roads into the city run by its Agrupación de Tráfico using mobile and static radar, and a mounted Escuadrón de Caballería patrolling the rural roads around the capital. A helicopter and SEPRONA support for the Feria de Ganado livestock fair and food safety inspections round out its festival role.
Who Actually Answers What During San Fermín
Navarra’s Junta de Seguridad, the coordinating body that includes the national government’s delegate in Navarra, the regional interior councillor, and Pamplona’s own security councillor, published the full 2026 operation on July 3: more than 2,700 agents across four forces securing the nine days of San Fermín. Of that total, Policía Nacional fields the largest contingent at roughly 950, running drone and helicopter coverage, mounted and canine units through the city center, and bomb disposal response. Guardia Civil and Policía Foral each contribute roughly 700. Policía Municipal brings 412 officers, supported by 186 Civil Protection auxiliaries who handle fixed traffic points.
For a visitor, the practical takeaway is simpler than the org chart suggests. The officer at the encierro barrier is almost always Policía Foral or Policía Municipal, working together. A theft or lost item goes to Policía Municipal’s walk in offices or Policía Foral’s Plaza del Castillo desk. A serious road stop on the highway into town is more likely Guardia Civil. And the black tricorn hat, when it does appear, marks a ceremonial moment rather than a routine patrol.
Frequently Asked Questions
What color is the police uniform in Pamplona?
Policía Municipal de Pamplona wears blue, a switch made in 2018 from a longtime yellow, with a black and white checkered band across the chest and back. Policía Foral de Navarra’s most recognizable marker is a red beret, or txapela, worn as a permanent part of its uniform. Guardia Civil’s daily patrol uniform is a standard cap, with the well known black tricorn hat reserved for ceremonies and parades.
Is Policía Foral the same as Guardia Civil?
No. Policía Foral de Navarra is a regional force created by Navarra’s own government in 1928 and governed today by Navarra’s own charter law. Guardia Civil is a national, militarized force founded in 1844 and overseen jointly by Spain’s Interior and Defense ministries. The two forces are currently in the middle of transferring interurban traffic duties from Guardia Civil to Policía Foral in Navarra, a process expected to finish by 2027.
Who secures the encierro route in Pamplona?
Policía Foral and Policía Municipal jointly clear and hold the encierro route each morning, including managing the double fencing along the course and enforcing the ban on cameras and recording devices during the run. Policía Foral also secures the Plaza de Toros for the events that follow each encierro.
How many police work San Fermín in Pamplona?
Navarra’s 2026 security operation for San Fermín deployed more than 2,700 agents across four forces: roughly 950 from Policía Nacional, 700 from Guardia Civil, 700 from Policía Foral, and 412 from Policía Municipal, supported by 186 Civil Protection auxiliaries.
Every article on the Encierro blog is authored or reviewed by active bull runners with direct experience in Pamplona.