Police and territory: continuities and breackdowns in public security management during the Covid-19 pandemics in Mar del Plata (Argentina) 2020-2021
Abstract
The article addresses the way police officers operating in the territories carry out their tasks of law maintenance and crime prevention, identifying the continuities and ruptures in the production of security that can be observed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis is based on twenty interviews to police personnel of different ranks in several po[1]lice stations in Mar del Plata, in addition to interviews to key informants, in particular, half a dozen participants in security forums, social activists, and local political leaders. The fieldwork was carried out from mid-2020 to the end of 2021, in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic, immediately after the application of the most drastic measures of mandatory social isolation. According to the study, police activity initially saw some of its usual areas of intervention reduced or suspended, such as street crime control or criminal investigation; in other aspects, it continued to operate according to patterns that were in place before the pandemic, such as the regulation of social violence in certain segments of the population. The novelty was given by the generalization of traffic control operations, and the restriction of social gatherings. In a few months, the policing of the city was once again ordered according to the social and institutional configuration prior to the pandemic.
