Exceptional Argentina Di Tella, Glaeser and Llach - Thomas Piketty

paid Police Forces. 22 A third difference is that militarized Police Forces do not used to pay
overtime for the street-level service as cops. In the lines of Tirole (1986), avoiding these
discretionary payments seem useful to reduce the probability of collusion. In recent years,
though, the budgetary problems have induced both members of Gendarmeria and Prefectura to
sell private security services outside of their normal working time. We are yet to see the
consequences of such a reform. A fifth important difference has to do with geographic
personnel rotation. Police officers of the PFA that render their service on the City of Buenos
Aires are hardly rotated to the interior of the country and vice versa. Agents of the Police of the
Province of Buenos Aires move very little. Only Captains rotate once a year, but always on the
same jurisdiction. On the contrary, the National Gendarmerie’s strategy is set to avoid
collusion. Both Officers and Enrolled Gendarmes are constantly being rotated to different
locations across the country, staying in general no more than three years on the same location.
Within the location, every two months they either change their post or their shift so as not to let
the people get involved with one particular gendarme. The Coast Guard still have some
rotation, but only for the high rank personnel, which moves every two or three years.
Subordinate officers hardly rotate; their post is fixed. They are only moved as a punishment for
bad performance. As expected, the militarized forces are also stricter with norms of conduct.
Coast guards and gendarmes are fired if they accumulate late entrances, if they are absent from
their post without a proper justification or if they do not act according to their responsibilities.
Regarding the agents expelled, they have an indictment and are not allowed to work in any
other security force. That is not the case for fired agents of the civilian Police Forces, as there is
no track of them. In the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires , there are no records of
expelled personnel, despite most cops were fired due to cases of corruption. In short, the
punishment from misbehavior in the civilian Police Forces seems weaker and less credible than
in the militarized forces. Regarding the bribe offers, one should recognize that not all forces
can issue tickets, which might be an important determinant of the willingness of civilians to
bribe. Both the PFA and the Provincial Police, as they act as local police forces in their
respective jurisdiction, are allowed to fine civilians. The Argentinean Coast Guard acts as the
local Police Force in the City’s district of Puerto Madero (as well as other port jurisdictions all
over the country), 23 where they also have the authority to fine civilians. In contrast the
National Gendarmerie is the only force that it is not allowed to issue tickets, even though it is
responsible for the security of the national roads. Although we cannot fully discard that this is
behind the differences in perception among Police Forces in Argentina, we think it is not the
main issue. On the one hand there can also be some bribing in national roads, by Gendarmes,
because issuing a ticket is not the only bargaining tool to get money. Discretionary delays and
other special requirements have to be taken into account too. On the other hand the anecdotal
explanations for why the civilian Police Forces have worse reputation is not because of petty
bribes, but because of deeper problems, like close connection with local Mafias, criminals or
illegal businesses. In short, even if the comparison cannot be perfect, the diversify of Police
Organization and performance within Argentina is suggestive of a lesson: the Argentinean
security organizations that follow similar practices than Carabienros de Chile are better
evaluated by Argentinean citizens.
22 Although in the last few years Gendarmeria started to enroll personnel in the Capital city
23 In Puerto Madero there is a high density of policeman from Prefectura. There are 500 subordinate officers and 40
superior officers, who work in 4 quarters of 8 rotary hours.