Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The objective of this study is to discuss the elements that make up the military police dirty work observing, under a critical view of organizations. The aspects that configure the work, identity and individuality of this professional and that end up compromising mental health are considered. From an ethnographic study conducted at the Center for Prevention and Quality of Life of the Military Police of the Federal District (Brazil), data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews with thirty-one military police officers. Data were analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis. The results show an exhausting work, violent, stigmatized, little recognized and crossed by a rigid hierarchy, sometimes abusive. The demands and the nature of the work conceal the identity of the subject, which is neutralized against the organizational demands and ends up compromising his individuality. From the police training school, there is the subjection of workers, the continuous denial of self, the need for social withdrawal and the formation of a collective identity. The characteristics of the work, associated with the construction of this identity, have contributed to the compromised mental health of the police, increasing the picture of depression, anxiety, alcoholism, panic disorder, and suicide. The conclusions show that the policeman’s mental health is not only associated with this dirty work, but also with the management model applied to corporations. Such evidences demand the rethinking of the profession, redesigning its image in the organizational, and social context through the creation of public policies for mental health care of the police.