Confidence and suspicion in the field of security

Notes on the office of interviewing police officers

Abstract

This article has the objective of making a series of methodological reflections on our experiences as researchers in the field of security. We explain some problematic knots around the office of qualitatively investigating in direct contact with the police, partly to open debates and discussions within the field of social sciences, but also as a reflexivity exercise for our ongoing investigations. We anticipate that the spirit of the article attempts to resolve some aspects of "access" to field work within the police institution, stressing the relationship between the alleged opacity and the predisposition of its agents to meet us and answer our questions. To do so, we address some moments of our research that allow us to identify and reflect on our strategies to build trust and some misunderstandings that gave rise to expressions of suspicion about ourselves and our intentions.