Considerações sobre uma polícia preventiva: discursos políticos e a natureza da atividade policial no Brasil oitocentista

Abstract

Statesmen in Brazil shared common concerns about public policy and public security during the 19th century. The creation of different institutions during the early years of the 1830’s is a fundamental element for the understanding of the imperial dynamics on these issues. The goal of this paper is to analyze the legal and political speeches linked to the public security policy, referencing the police institution in the 1830s and 1840s. This article will present the Department of Police of the Court’s guiding principles and its form of action towards a specific group of the Imperial political elite: the Ministers of Justice - top directors in the police and judicial hierarchy, who were beginning to be established in the 1830s. It has been considered that the process of strengthening and the legitimacy of the police institution was directly linked to the formation of the imperial state along the 19th century. However, understanding the speeches which drove the organization and the police practices contributes significantly to the understanding of the constitution of the imperial State itself in the nineteenth century.