Policing and control in the urban space of Teresina: from disciplinary to distinguished police actions

Abstract

This article concerns the role of the military police in the city of Teresina, seeking to exploit its methods of intervention as the city expands and social conflicts intensify. Divided into three sections, the paper focuses, initially, on police action as it relates to urbanization, showing its forms of insertion in the city and its performance as a force controlling behaviors. Then, it describes the policing strategies as they reflect an operational plan in which the urban space is scanned and the police’s patrolling course defined according to risk times considered more or less susceptible to criminal practice. Next, based on the notions of center and periphery, it shows that the central areas tend to become consolidated as areas of protection, with regular preventive action, while the periphery tends to become a natural area of deviant behavior, demanding a more repressive action of the police.