Ownership of the Logs Used by Police Personnel

Going beyond the historic view of police logs as a register of the daily incidents of urban life which are not criminal, this article seeks to illuminate their unexpected use as a tool which has become a real measure of public insecurity. Since its computerisation in 1995 and its spread throughout the police service, the staple diet and the use of the computerised log (MCI) has become deep-rooted to the extent to which it has become a management tool and a means of communication between officers, as professional identities have been questioned. The article shows the ambivalent feelings of different police bodies to the MCI, when used as a tool to distribute personnel, to report on the use of administrative and judicial police powers, or as a medium of exchange with the gendarmerie. It indicates why the MCI has not been awarded the status of an instrument to put into effect solutions to crime reduction problems or problems of disorder through using the statistics it produces