The role of military leadership in the socio-professional configuration of Portuguese police administrative elites

Abstract

This article aims to understand the relationship between the military and police universes, particularly in the PSP, a security force with a civilian matrix, but based on principles inherited from a military culture. In order to achieve this, it is crucial to highlight the creation of the Escola Superior de Polícia in 1982; the designation and curriculum of the Police officers training course, the 1999 Organic Law, which strengthened its civilian matrix; and rituals, categories, symbols, careers, graduations, parades, salutes and police honours. To accomplish this purpose we intend, with the contribution of a socio-historical appreciation, to answer the following question: what was the contribution of the military leadership to the consolidation of police administrative elites in Portugal? As specific objectives, we consequently delineated the following topics: understanding what it means to be a leader in the current Portuguese Police; identify the military-inspired characteristics of the Portuguese police; and comprehend if the leadership in the Police is distinguished from the action taken by a military leader.