A verdade da polícia: uma análise dos testemunhos de policiais em inquéritos sobre mortes de civis decorrentes de ação policial em Salvador, em 2016

Abstract

This work analyzes, through a qualitative approach, the speeches present in the testimonies of police officers who speak officially in documents about the event of the death of civilians resulting from police action. 14 criminal cases, 49 testimonies and 10 resistance reports were collected and analyzed, in order to identify the discursive elements for the legal justification of lethal state action. The data were analyzed through direct observation of the documents, problematizing the characteristics present in the police narrative. I also analyze how the action taken by police officers is legitimized in these cases, based on the theoretical framework composed by Max Weber (2009), Tyler (1990) and Bottoms and Tankebe (2012), in addition to Foucault (2011, 2013). The findings of this work include the identification of characteristics of the police's truth and the limits to the assessment of the legality of police acts, the way in which parresía develops and the self-legitimacy in the legalization of lethal state violence. I conclude that the legitimacy of lethal state action in the narratives is centered on the legality of the acts carried out, where the procedures adopted in the action are narrated, in a construction in which state agents perceive themselves as legitimate and claim legitimate domination over third parties in their functional performance.