“Mirrored reflections”: moral communities among “military police officers”, “militias”,and “pi-licias” in Rio de Janeiro

The present paper sheds light on a little-known social actor in Rio de Janeiro's criminal landscape. “Pi-licias” are civilians who impersonate policemen in everyday life, working illegally for legitimate police officers in different ways. They are found in private security markets, as “informants” in parallel police investigations, or even as “auxiliary forces” in police and/or paramilitary raids against drug trafficking gangs. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with candidates for the military police career, the study aims to demonstrate how the “moral communities” founded among military police officers, militias, and “pi-licias” pave the way for illegal “schemes” that emerge from private security markets in Rio de Janeiro.

policing; illegalisms; state; moralities; schemes