Argentine Federal Police
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (December 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Argentine Federal Police Policía Federal Argentina | |
---|---|
Montserrat, Buenos Aires | |
Sworn members | 65,000 |
Agency executives |
|
Website | |
argentina.gob.ar/policiafederal | |
The Policía Federal Argentina, while a federal agency, also provides direct policing to the capital city Buenos Aires |
34°36′47″S 58°23′17″W / 34.61306°S 58.38806°W
The Argentine Federal Police (
History
The history of this police force can be traced to 1580, when the founder of Buenos Aires, Captain Juan de Garay, established a local militia for defense against potential Native American raids. The Policía de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Police) operated for the first three hundred years up to 1880, when the Federalization of Buenos Aires resulted in the creation of the Policía de la Capital (Police of the Capital).
Incidents of social unrest in subsequent years helped prompt the Fraga Law in 1904, which provided for the inclusion of neighborhood representatives as
The current entity resulted from an initiative by the chief of police, Col. Emilio Ramírez, assisted by LTCOL Enrique Fentanes. A panel convened by the police chief presented its findings to support the establishment of the Federal Police on November 8, 1943, and on December 24, Decree 17.750 was signed by President Pedro Pablo Ramírez (the father of the chief of police). The new force did not immediately replace the Capital Police, but was instead transferred duties under the latter's purview incrementally. The first important such transfer was the February 7, 1944, assignment as the Presidential Guard of the Casa Rosada, and on March 10, the process of unifying the two forces was initiated by decree, concluding officially on January 1, 1945.
The Federal Police changed slowly in its organizational structure in subsequent decades. Initially maintaining 45 precincts, it added five in 1946, two in 1976, and a 53rd in 1999. Its subordinate role to the national executive increasingly made the force a political instrument during the country's often authoritarian regimes. General
The 1993
The controversial bill, signed in 1996 by President Menem, remained a sticking point between successive Presidents (most of whom have been Peronist) and Buenos Aires Mayors (none of whom have been). A 2005 agreement on principles between Mayor Aníbal Ibarra and President Néstor Kirchner was followed by the modification of the especially contentious article 7, which denied the city its own, local police force, in 2007 - though the "Cafiero Law" otherwise remains in force. Efforts since 2007 by Mayor Mauricio Macri to declare it unconstitutional have thus far failed, and though the Mayor inaugurated a Metropolitan Police, issues of revenue sharing for its financing remain pending.[4]
The PFA, since 1974, maintains a university specializing in criminology, is associated with Interpol, and participates in special forces training programs at the Los Angeles Police Department.
In January 2017, most of the Federal Police agents serving in the city of Buenos Aires were transferred to a new local law enforcement agency, the Buenos Aires City Police. The new agency took over the local policing responsibilities in the capital city.
General organization
The PFA is subordinate to the Ministry of Security. The organization is headed by the Chief of the PFA, the Comisario General Juan Carlos Hernández, assisted by the Deputy Chief of the PFA, Comisario General Osvaldo Mato.
The PFA's headquarters, known as the Departamento Central de Policía, is located at 1650 Moreno Street, in the
The organization of the PFA is as follows:
- Jefatura (General Headquarters)
- Subjefatura (Subheadquarters)
- Superintendencias (Superintendencies)
- Superintendencia de Administración (Superintendency of Administration)
- Superintendencia de Bienestar (Superintendency of Welfare)
- Superintendencia Federal de Bomberos (Federal Firefighting Superintendency)
- Superintendencia de Investigaciones Federales (Superintendency of Federal Investigation)
- Superintendencia de Planificación y Desarrollo (Superintendency of Planning and Development)
- Superintendencia de Personal, Instrucción y Derechos Humanos (Superintendency of Personnel, Instruction and Human Rights)
- Superintendencia de Policía Científica (Superintendency of Scientific Police)
- Superintendencia Federal de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones (Federal Superintendency of Information Technologies and Communications)
- Superintendencia de Interior y Delitos Federales Complejos (Superintendency of Interior and Federal Complex Crimes)
- Superintendencia de Drogas Peligrosas (Superintendency of Dangerous Drugs)
- Superintendencia de Asuntos Internos (Superintendency of Internal Affairs)
- Superintendencia Federal de Transporte (Federal Superintendency of Transportation)
- Direcciones Generales Autónomas (General Autonomic Directorates)
- Dirección General Autónoma de Asuntos Jurídicos (General Autonomic Directorate of Legal Affairs)
- Dirección General Autónoma de Asuntos Internos (General Autonomic Directorate of Internal Affairs)
Superintendencies are commanded by a superintendente, a less common word in Spanish. Both superintendente and the much more common Spanish word comisario normally translate into English as superintendent, which creates some translation problems when discussing Argentine police services.
Training for all serving agents of the service is done by the following institutions:
- Federal Police Agentss and NCOs School "Don Enrique O'Gorman"
- Federal Police Academy "Commissioner General Juan Angel Pirker"
- Federal Police Staff College "Comisario General Enrique Fentanes"
Aside from its former stations in Buenos Aires, it maintains provincial stations in select capital cities and several towns of the Provinces of Argentina. The FFS also doubles as the state fire service as well.
Special forces
Federal Operations Special Group
The GEOF is a specialized police unit of the General Directorate of International Terrorism and Complex Crimes. Although the existence of
Special Group One
The unit was established under the denomination of Special Combat Teams in 1978, when Argentina hosted the
Police ranks
Officer Ranks (in descending order)
Rank | Approximate English translation | Badge of rank |
---|---|---|
Comisario General - Jefe de Policia | Superintendent-General / Commissioner-General - Chief of Police | Four gold pips above a gold band & wreath |
Comisario General | Superintendent-General or Commissioner-General | Three gold pips above a gold band & wreath |
Comisario Mayor | Superintendent-Major or Commissioner-Major | Two gold pips above a gold band & wreath |
Comisario Inspector | Superintendent-Inspector or Commissioner-Inspector | One gold pip above a gold band & wreath |
Comisario | Superintendent or Commissioner | Two gold pips above a gold band |
Subcomisario | Sub-commissioner | One gold pip above a gold band |
Oficial Principal | Principal Officer | Three silver pips |
Oficial Inspector | Inspector Officer (or just Inspector) | Two silver pips |
Oficial Sub-Inspector | Sub-inspector Officer (or just Sub-Inspector) | One silver pip above one gold pip |
Oficial Ayudante | Adjutant Officer or Assistant Officer | One silver pip |
Rank | Approximate English translation | Badge of rank |
---|---|---|
Suboficial Mayor | Senior Sub-Officer | Four chevrons above an Austrian knot |
Suboficial Auxiliar | Auxiliary Sub-Officer | Three chevrons above three arcs |
Suboficial Escribiente | Clerk Sub-Officer or Administrative Sub-Officer or Staff Sub-Officer | Three chevrons above two arcs |
Sargento Primero | First Sergeant | Three chevrons above an arc |
Sargento | Sergeant | Three chevrons |
Cabo Primero | First Corporal | Two chevrons |
Cabo | Corporal | One chevron |
Agente / Bombero | Officer / Fireman | |
Aspirante | Candidate or Cadet |
Equipment
Aircraft
The Dirección General de Aviación Federal is a unit of PFA agents, responsible for transportation policeman to anywhere in the country, besides the air support operations to the Federal Police. It has multipurpose aircraft for health functions, VIP transport, search, patrol, fire fighting, rescue and tactical operations. Its operational base is the heliport of Isla Demarchi (Heliport Dársena Sur). Its current fleet includes:
Vehicles
Firearms
Pistols
- Bersa Thunder 9
- Glock 17
- Beretta 92
Submachine guns
Battle/Assault rifles
Shotguns
- Ithaca 37
- Remington 870
Machine guns
Sniper rifles
- M24 SWS
- H-S Precision HTR
- M110 SASS
References
- ^ Pigna, Felipe. Los mitos de la historia argentina 2: De San Martín a 'El granero del mundo'. Buenos Aires: Planeta, 2005.
- ^ a b c Andersen, Martin. Dossier Secreto. Westview Press, 1993.
- ^ "Infobae: Qué dice la Ley Cafiero" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2012-03-28. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
- ^ Parlamentario: Piden que declaren inconstitucional la ley Cafiero (in Spanish)
External links
- Official website (in Spanish)