Exceptional Argentina Di Tella, Glaeser and Llach - Thomas Piketty

gendarme means that the mean wage can be as much as US$600. In interviews, this amount
was not considered competitive with the more than US$ 700 paid by the Province of Buenos
Aires. That is why, up to a few years ago, gendarmerie did not open vacancies for applicants
from Buenos Aires, probably expecting to avoid bad applicants rejected from other forces. In
terms of retirement, as it was previously mentioned, agents need to have 35 years of service
(except for agents of the PFA who need 30 years) in order to retire with 100% of their basic
wage 43 . In the two civilian forces pensions are controlled by a special fund owned by
Organization 44 . However, the pensions of the agents of the National Gendarmerie are
controlled by the National Government. In a similar way, agents of the PFA and the Provincial
Police have health care plans and hospitals of their own 45 , while they are active and also once
they retire. The two militarized forces analyzed get health services and insurance from the
military: the Army for the National Gendarmerie and the Navy for the Coast Guard. Even if
they are independent Organizations with completely different roles, they retain the pension and
health system of the Organization from which they born. Regarding geographic personnel
rotation, it is high for the National Gendarmerie and the Argentinean Coast Guard and low for
the Police Forces. 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, like in Tirole’s model (1986). 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. Things are
different in the Coast Guard, where only high rank personnel rotate every two or three years.
Subordinate officers hardly rotate; their post is fixed. They are only moved as a punishment for
bad performance. The Argentinean Coast Guard and the National Gendarmeries are strict with
the norms and rules that its agents have to fulfill. 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 PFA, as there is no track of them. Out of the expelled officers from the Buenos
Aires Provincial Police, most were due to cases of corruption. Again, there is no official track
of these provincial agents. 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, 46 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 is also some bribing in national roads, because issuing a ticket is not the
43 This is the de jure replacement rate. As abovementioned, the de facto replacement rate lies around 70% to 80%
44 “Caja de Retiros, Jubilaciones y Pensiones de la PFA”. It is the same in the Police of the Province of Buenos
Aires, where pensions are controlled through the “Caja de Retiros, Jubilaciones y Pensiones de la Policia de la
Provincia de Buenos Aires”
45 The PFA’s hospital is “Bartolome Churrica – Visca”
46 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.