From the guard bodies to the vigilant pickets

the shaping of the police force within the configurational frame of the province State. Mendoza (1824-1860)

Abstract

The aim of this work is to rebuild the configuration of an armed force inherent to the Police in Mendoza between 1824 and 1860, attending the budget and logistic problems that this implied, the structure of positions that was being shaped and the names by which it was designated. Our hypothesis claims that the progressive emergence of the “security police” concept implied the consolidation of a public speech in which the expenses for sustaining an armed group of the Police itself were considered unarguable given the notion of necessity that initially articulated the put forward argument. The dates that edge the studied period have to do with the beginnings of the outlining of the police as function within the governor’s sphere starting with the institutional emptying of the cabildo and the year in which the watchmen service was regulated, making evident the creation of a specific body for watching over night. Sources from the Police folders at the General Archive of the Province and minutes of meetings of the Representatives’ House are analysed both in their published version until 1827 and unpublished ones later, kept at the Legislature of Mendoza Archive. Contemporary press is also utilized.