Showing a lack of respect to officers of the law is an offence under Article 634 of the Penal Code, as local PSOE Councillor Óscar Raúl Jiménez Fernández found to his cost.
The Councillor was fined €200 for refusing to identify himself and for using the word ‘sheriff’ during discussions relating to a traffic matter.
The incident occurred on October 8th 2009. The Councillor owns a car rental agency and one of his customers arrived and parked on the pavement right next to the entrance to hand in some keys and, according to the Councillor, was only going to be there for a minute or two.
However, a Local Police Trafico officer arrived on his motorbike and the Councillor apparently hindered his efforts to obtain the details of the driver for the purposes of issuing a ticket and he himself continually refused to provide identification, using the word ‘sheriff’ during the discussions.
The prosecution had been asking for a fine of €600 but the Court in Torrox decided upon €200 as a suitable penalty.
The Councillor is no stranger to the courts. Two years ago he was fined €180 for walking his puppy without a lead on El Playazo beach at 07:30 in the morning.