Institutional transformation of the Provincial Police of Buenos Aires during the first half of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This article analyzes the institutional transformation of the Provincial Police of Buenos Aires during the first half of the Twentieth Century. First, the period from the 1880s when both city and provincial police were separated up to the 1920s is studied. Then, the institutional evolution of this Law Enforcement Agency is divided in three stages: 1) the 1930s when significant changes began to taking place, 2) the military coup of 1943 and the following Peronist period, when a deep administrative police reform happened. And 3) the years of the Revolución Libertadora from 1955 on, analyzed in this article as a conclusion. The entire piece refers to the transition from a brava (1930s) to a dura (1960s) police agency that issued its own institutional goals in concurrence with the political and military governments during those decades.