Abstract

BENTO, Afonso de Castro. The “Safe School” program: prevention, proximity and community. Etnográfica [online]. 2017, vol.21, n.2, pp.319-339. ISSN 0873-6561.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in a Lisbon police station, this article puts forward an analysis of the “Safe School” program, focusing on the way it is organized and carried out by its police officers. It is argued that police activities such as safety lectures or police demonstrations - which aim at transmitting norms and values - not only play a fundamental role in defining the program from the point of view of its organization, but also give shape to the notions of crime prevention and proximity in the context of Portuguese policing. Additionally, the in-depth observation of these police activities revealed the importance of the idea of community to the way through which the “Safe School” program officers assign meaning and legitimacy to the kind of policing they carry out.

Keywords : school policing; “Safe School” program; prevention; proximity; community.

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