The police community on the move: hierarchy and management in the daily lives of Portuguese police officers

Abstract

In this article, I argue that in order to maintain some organisational uniformity the Portuguese police institution must ensure a high level of individual mobility – that is, a professional community on the move all over the country. Based on in‐depth fieldwork in Portuguese police stations, I treat police bureaucracy not only as an institution with fixed boundaries but also, and simultaneously, as a unit continuously sustained by broader environments and the officers’ own domestic rationales.

Burnout as predictor of aggressivity among police officers

“…It can be found in countries such as Australia (Ransley & Mazerolle, 2009), the United States of America (Goodman, 1990;Hassell, Archbold & Stichman, 2011;Menard & Arter, 2013), Canada (Le Blanc, Regehr, Jelley & Bareth, 2008Oligny, 1991), Taiwan (Chen, 2009;Chueh, Yen, Lu & Yang, 2011), Israel (Pines & Keinan, 2006), Africa (Agolla, 2009;Storm & Rothmann, 2003), India (Bawa & Kaur, 2011;Ranta & Sud, 2008) and Brazil (Coleta & Coleta, 2008;Soares et al, 2012). Within Europe we found studies in The Netherlands (Euwema, Kop & Bakker, 2004;Velden, Kleber, Grievink & Yzermans, 2010), Switzerland (Gerber, Hartmann, Brand, Holsboer-Trachsler & Pühse, 2010), Finland (Vuorensyrja & Malkia, 2011), Norway (Langballe, Innstrand, Hagtvet, Falkum & Aasland, 2009), Lithuania (Bandzeviciene, Birbilaite & Dirzyte, 2010), Turkey (Azizoglu & Ozyer, 2010), Italy (Pancheri et al, 2002), Spain (Durán, Montalbán & Stangeland, 2006;Gil-Monte, 2002;Ravelo, Garcia & Dorta, 2009), and Portugal (Durão, 2010(Durão, , 2011Gonçalves & Neves, 2010;Manuel & Soeiro, 2010;Queirós & Marques, 2013;Recasens i Brunet, Basanta, Agra, Queirós & Selmini, 2009). It is important to highlight that despite cultural differences among countries, the data seems to consistently show that policing provokes stress, burnout, physical diseases, aggressive behaviours and suicide.…”

Citizens’ attitudes toward legal authorities in Brazil: Examining the impact of crime, insecurity, and corruption

“…Numerous scholarly studies have been undertaken globally and in Brazil to examine, understand and provide recommendations about how to tackle the corruption problem (Economides & de Rezende Alvim, 2020; Engelmann, 2020; Power & Taylor, 2011; Saad-Filho & Boffo, 2021). France (2020), in an effort to understand the problem studied three major areas of the Brazilian system, namely healthcare, agriculture, and construction.…”

“…This study exemplified what became known among scholars as the sectoral study of corruption—corruption studies examining one or more sectors of government. In addition, several studies were conducted examining corruption in the legal system in Brazil, specifically, the judiciary and police (Economides & de Rezende Alvim, 2020; Engelmann, 2020; Power & Taylor, 2011; Saad-Filho & Boffo, 2021). Evidence from these studies concurs with France (2020) observation about high levels of corruption in the legal system in Brazil.…”

Mulheres policiais em Portugal no século XX: a profecia não realizada*

“…Seja por influência familiar ou redes de amigos, o dado mais fundamental é que a incursão na PSP surge frequentemente associada a dois movimentos intrinsecamente ligados, por vezes disjuntivos, nesse meio: a mobilidade social e geográfica (Durão, 2011b). Para oficiais, sobretudo quando oriundos da vida civil e sem vínculo prévio à FCT (em geral sempre acima dos 70% em todos os cursos), o interesse pela Polícia surge associado à possibilidade de ter uma carreira promissora e superior na administração pública.…”