From Jailer to Criminal Police: Between Nomenclatures, Social Image, and Attributions

Abstract

This paper discusses the process of identity construction of prison security professionals from the transition from the occupational classification of jailer to criminal police officer. I start from the creation of the Criminal Police to problematize the performance, social image and its repercussions in the lives of these professionals. The research was carried out through participant observation and interviews with criminal police officers in Ceará prisons. Through the police narratives, the violent and corrupt social identity gives space to the police identity in formation, whose attributions are related to repressive, disciplinary and surveillance practices, as elements invigorated by the union political organization to remove the excuses social representations attributed to the occupation.