Abstract

PAIARO, Melisa. Between “suspicious behavior” and “warning shots”: police report narratives in the logbooks of the Comando Radioeléctrico of Córdoba in the 70s. Etnográfica [online]. 2015, vol.19, n.3, pp.441-461. ISSN 0873-6561.

The logbooks of the Comando Radioelectrico of the Córdoba Province police (­Argentina) relates the daily events of a police “squad” which had to prevent the crime, handle emergencies and patrol a deeply mobilized city, as Cordoba was during the 70s. This article analyzes the narrative construction of the “procedures” that describe as “suspicious” the actions of individuals whose behaviors were permanently being watched by the police agent. Although such records don’t constitute a direct reflection of the repressive practices developed by the police forces that produced them, it is our understanding that they worked as action guides, consecrating what was right and desirable, and therefore constraining the daily practices, reinforcing certain logics of institutional operation and overshadowing others.

Keywords : Comando Radioeléctrico; logbooks; police report narratives; procedures; suspicious behavior.

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