In 1860, the Police – which until then had depended on the Municipality of the city of Cordoba – came under the direction of the Executive Córdoba -, was placed under the direction of the Executive Power of the Province of Córdoba. Towards the end of the 19th century, a draft of Internal Police Regulations was presented by means of an “Order of the Day”, one of the first precedents in the organisation of police administration. The “orders of the day” were the instrument par excellence by means of which its administrative structure was established. The police service extended throughout the city of Cordoba, capital of the province of the same name, divided into jurisdictions and sections. The existing administrative structure and organisation in the period 1899-1912 comprised a Department or Central Office and ten Section Commissariats.
The Police Commissariat of Orders, Treasury, Statistics and Archives, Medical Service, Majority and Deposit, Commissariat of Inspection, Commissariat of Investigations, Prevention Guards, Orderly Personnel, Section Commissariats, Band of Music, Fire Brigade, Prison Guard Squad, Prison for Detainees and Penitentiary, constituted the departments and offices that gave shape to the police body, which answered in its entirety to the Sub Superintendency of Police.
The classification in series corresponds to these units, offices and areas of the institution. In particular, the Section Police Stations served in the different jurisdictions of the city. The documents record the actions that give an account of the organisation of the police, its functions, activities, internal administrative provisions and, in particular, provide a detailed insight into the life of the residents in the different neighbourhoods of the city, the uses and customs, the geographical layout of the neighbourhood, the businesses, the inhabitants, and other cultural and material references that refer to daily life.
In the documents offered, the Commissioner, by means of a notification to the Deputy Mayor of Police, reports on the actions carried out by the personnel of the Police Station in the face of the flooding of the Primero River and La Cañada stream, which occurred on the morning of 11 April 1903.
The first document, corresponding to the Second Sectional Police Station, notifies the time of the arrival of the flood, the warning given “to all the people living along the river”, the personnel who provided services along the riverbank, the flooded neighbourhood sectors, the houses affected and the families evacuated. For its part, the document from the Fourth Sectional Police Station refers to the same event and the actions carried out by this unit.
The “La Cañada” stream crosses the city of Córdoba and flows into the Suquía (or “Primero”). Throughout the history of Cordoba there have been floods of great magnitude which led to the construction of important infrastructure works over the course of the 20th century to contain and channel the watercourse, such as those illustrated in the accompanying photographs, which belong to other documentary series in the Executive Branch collection.
AUTHOR OF THE TEXT
Arch. Ana Carolina Chaij, Prof. Ivana Quinteros
NAME OF IBERARCHIVOS PROJECT
“Rescue, organisation and stabilisation of the Police Fund of the Province of Córdoba” (first stage: 1899-1909 and second stage: 1910-1912)”.
Photographs:
Image caption:
AHPC, Poder Ejecutivo, Ministerio de Gobierno, Policía de la Provincia de Córdoba, Comisaría Seccional Segunda, 1903, Volume 1.
AHPC, Poder Ejecutivo, Ministerio de Gobierno, Policía de la Provincia de Córdoba, Comisaría Seccional Cuarta, 1903.
AHPC, Poder Ejecutivo, Ministerio de Gobierno, Dirección de Hidráulica, 1944.
