Abstract

In this article, I argue that in order to maintain some organisational uniformity the Portuguese police institution must ensure a high level of individual mobility – that is, a professional community on the move all over the country. Based on in-depth fieldwork in Portuguese police stations, I treat police bureaucracy not only as an institution with fixed boundaries but also, and simultaneously, as a unit continuously sustained by broader environments and the officers’ own domestic rationales.

This article received the ERICS Award, ICS 2011.