Abstract

DA SILVA LORENZ, Mariana. From "ought to be" to practice: About how the use of police force and frearms is regulated. Delito soc. [online]. 2013, vol.22, n.36, pp.105-134. ISSN 0328-0101.

As a part of an ongoing doctoral research which aim is to address the significance that the members of the Policía Federal Argentina (PFA), the biggest civil armed institution in Argentina, build about the use of force and the weapons; this research advance focus in the legislation that regulates this particular aspect of the police work. We understand that it is important not only to analyze the written legislation but to also the way this regulations relate to police actions and how they are applied by police members. It is fundamental to analyze the law due to the importance it has when it comes to defining police practice. It is possible to observe a framework in which the different regulations (police, national and international law) superpose and complement each other. Nevertheless, the main precepts about how to use the force and the weapons are not a mere reproduction of institutional standards but also not an original product of every single officer. It would be impossible that the members of the PFA could perform their duty without a common criterion of how to use their force, their lethal power. This criterion is not necessarily written in a formal regulation. There are abilities, attitudes and particular practices that can generalize and acquire institutional value. There is certain consensus in the way that the law should be interpreted that, without taking into account what it says, can determine certain ways of performing the police duty.

Keywords : Use of force; Police; Regulation.

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