Reforms to the Buenos Aires Police Intendancy: Crisis, revolution and centralization (1810-1821)

Abstract

This article analyzes the General Police Intendancy of Buenos Aires, established in 1812 during the Argentine War of Independence, in order to examine its roles and structure. A comparative analysis is set up with similar police forces trialed during the colonial period, taking into account the reforms carried out to the intendancy during the critical moments of the Revolution period. Based on this analysis, we outline a series of reflections on the fabric of the political-institutional relations surrounding the intendancy, highlighting the different ideas on police characterizing the politics of the time, all marked by the idea of centralization. Police power – both at the end of the eighteenth century as well as at the beginning of the nineteenth century – takes the form of an institutional space debated between a variety of political actors, from the Crown to the Municipal Council and the Superior Government