Police institution, violence and culture of terror in Tijuana

Abstract

This article posits that in a context of extreme violence, Tijuana’s police officers respond to job related tension and uncertainty through common sense notions embedded in the collective experience that structure their
everyday practices. Through in-depth ethnographic research, three common sense notions were found that express this uncertainty, which police officers call the three guarantees (3G): “You can get killed at any time, you can get fired at any time, and you can go to jail at any time”.