Jerez awards medals of merit to an officer and an agent

The City Council of Jerez de los Caballeros has awarded the medal of merit of the Local Police to officer Gabriel Francisco Poves Ramírez and agent Antonio José Portillo Lucas, according to the agreement adopted unanimously by the Plenary in the session of August 3, 2026. The recognition, processed as file 221/2026, is made public in the Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz No. 208, of Thursday, October 29, 2026, through Announcement 4301/2026, within the Local Administration section.

The decoration is granted in recognition of the “exemplary commitment, professionalism, and vocation for public service” of the two members of the force, demonstrated during the intervention carried out on February 8, 2026. The official announcement emphasizes that the agents acted despite the “high risk to their physical integrity” and that they managed to “satisfactorily resolve an extreme situation.” The text is signed by the Mayor-President, Raúl Gordillo Barroso, and is published “for general knowledge,” that is, as an official communication of the plenary agreement once adopted.

Unanimous Approval in the August Plenary

The agreement does not stem from the Headquarters of the force nor from a Mayoral resolution, but from the municipal body of maximum representation. The Plenary of the City Council of Jerez de los Caballeros approved the award unanimously in its session on August 3, 2026, with the published announcement recording no individual votes or abstentions.

The processing was carried out through file 221/2026, which identifies the award procedure and serves as the administrative reference for the recognition. The publication in the provincial gazette, nearly three months after the plenary session, provides formal validity and public dissemination to the agreement.

The Two Honorees

The medal of merit of the Local Police is awarded to two members of the Force with different ranks:

• Gabriel Francisco Poves Ramírez, Officer of the Local Police of Jerez de los Caballeros.
• Antonio José Portillo Lucas, Agent of the Local Police of Jerez de los Caballeros.

The announcement does not detail the specific content of the intervention on February 8, 2026, nor the exact location, the means employed, or whether there were any injured persons. It limits itself to describing the situation as “extreme” and highlighting the risk assumed by the two officers; therefore, the available official information is restricted to the date of the event and the assessment made of it by the Plenary.

Under the Local Police Regulations

The award complies with the provisions of Article 59.2 of the Local Police Regulations of Jerez de los Caballeros, the municipal regulation that governs the decorations and distinctions of the Force. The announcement expressly invokes this precept as the legal basis for the agreement, meaning that the medal is not a discretionary recognition separate from the body’s organic regulations, but rather a distinction provided for and specified in the local regulations.

The same plenary session on August 3, 2026, addressed other decisions related to the Local Police, such as the initial approval of the Regulation governing the canine unit and the Regulation on the use of electronic control devices (Tasers) and body-worn cameras, which were definitively approved without objections and published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz No. 186, dated September 29, 2026.

Closing

The distinction has a scope that goes beyond the symbolic for a small staff like that of Jerez de los Caballeros: the Plenary officially records that two of its officers faced a situation of extreme risk and resolved it, and it does so by unanimity of all municipal groups. Furthermore, the announcement allows the neighborhood to know, by full name and with documentary support, the recognition of an action that until now had only been recorded within the internal sphere of the Force.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz, No. 208, dated October 29, 2026, Local Administration, page 2 (official reference: Announcement 4301/2026).