SOCIAL RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONS

THE CONDITIONS OF ACCESS TO POLICE RECORDS

Abstract

The scope of the study was to investigate the mechanisms used by a research group active in the middle region of Alto Solimões in Amazonas state, as well as their experiences in accessing the information in police stations in four cities in search of data and information on violence against women. The data analyzed belong to the Observatory Program of Gender Violence in the Amazon, which was implemented in 2012 as 'Observatory on Violence against Women in Alto Solimões', linked to the Dean of Extension and Internalization of the Universidade Federal do Amazonas. For this, we used the method of content analysis in the field reports produced by members of the research group who visited police stations in the period; where this methodology establishes three stages, as follows: Pre-analysis; material exploration; Treatment of Results: inference, and interpretation. Ethnographic reports analyzed in field reports were subject to the conditions of access to information in these organizations, as well as environmental impressions, administrative routines and situations that involve contact with the agents and the records / documents produced. The conditions of access and contact with documents, we identified the following conflicts: The environment and the devices hinder the consultation of documents; variation of simplified methods of document organization; lack of regulatory access procedures; the documents themselves as access barriers. The study also reveals the need to broaden the discussion on access to information within public institutions of scientific research service, in particular the conditions of access for law enforcement agencies and the quality of production of records and archival documents.