Como nascem os carcarás: identidade, direito e etnografia de uma unidade especializada da PMERJ

Abstract

This work is the result of my effort to answer the following question: How is the institutional identity of the Batalhão de Rondas Especiais e Controle de Multidão (RECOM) constituted within the quasi-military State Police of Rio de Janeiro, and how is this identity shaped by the interplay of historical, normative, and symbolic elements? This research adopts an ethnographic approach—combining participant observation, interviews, and document analysis—while confronting the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting fieldwork as a native researcher. I undertake a historical reconstruction of the Brazilian policing field, treating legislation not as a neutral instrument but as a product of sociopolitical struggles. By investigating the contests over prestige and autonomy within the police-military field, I seek to understand the role of law as a symbolic operator that structures institutional experience and legitimizes specific forms of authority. I approach the State not as a monolithic entity, but as a historical and symbolic structure that legitimizes militarized policing, shapes institutional habitus, and constitutes a field of symbolic and practical disputes. The research reveals that formal law—expressed in regulations and decrees—does not operate in isolation but is constantly reinterpreted, negotiated, and sometimes subverted in daily institutional practice. RECOM builds its identity through the selective incorporation of rules, the creation of its own doctrine, and the symbolic rejection of earlier models such as GETAM. This study shows that the unit’s identity is sustained through the production of symbolic distinctions, reinforced by rituals, training programs, disciplinary procedures, and strategies of institutional recognition.