The history of this police force can be traced to 1580, when the founder of Buenos Aires, Captain
Juan de Garay, established a local militia for defense against potential Native American raids. The
Policía de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Police) operated for the first three hundred years up to 1880, when the
Federalization of Buenos Aires resulted in the creation of the
Policía de la Capital (Police of the Capital). Incidents of social unrest in subsequent years helped prompt the Fraga Law in 1904, which provided for the inclusion of neighborhood representatives as
commissioners in their respective precincts. The failed
Revolution of 1905, by which the
UCR sought to bring about reforms to the undemocratic
electoral system, led to the appointment of a conservative congressman, retired Col.
Ramón Falcón, to the post of chief of police; Falcón's repressive tenure ended with his 1909 assassination. The current entity resulted from an initiative by the chief of police, Col. Emilio Ramírez, assisted by LTCOL
Enrique Fentanes. A panel convened by the police chief presented its findings to support the establishment of the Federal Police on November 8, 1943, and on December 24, Decree 17.750 was signed by President
Pedro Pablo Ramírez (the father of the chief of police). The new force did not immediately replace the Capital Police, but was instead transferred duties under the latter's purview incrementally. The first important such transfer was the February 7, 1944, assignment as the Presidential Guard of the
Casa Rosada, and on March 10, the process of unifying the two forces was initiated by decree, concluding officially on January 1, 1945. The Federal Police changed slowly in its organizational structure in subsequent decades. Initially maintaining 45 precincts, it added five in 1946, two in 1976, and a 53rd in 1999. Its subordinate role to the national executive increasingly made the force a political instrument during the country's often authoritarian regimes. General
Juan Carlos Onganía, president after a 1966 coup, named a Federal Police director, Luis Margaride, who shared his distaste for modern culture, resulting in crusades against nightclubs, long hair, and miniskirts. Facing a government policy backdrop such as this, numerous avant-garde artists (and others,
particularly in academia) left Argentina, many never to return. The controversial bill, signed in 1996 by President Menem, remained a sticking point between successive Presidents (most of whom have been Peronist) and Buenos Aires Mayors (none of whom have been). A 2005 agreement on principles between Mayor
Aníbal Ibarra and President
Néstor Kirchner was followed by the modification of the especially contentious article 7, which denied the city its own, local police force, in 2007 - though the "Cafiero Law" otherwise remains in force. Efforts since 2007 by Mayor
Mauricio Macri to declare it unconstitutional have thus far failed, and though the Mayor inaugurated a Metropolitan Police, issues of
revenue sharing for its financing remain pending. The PFA, since 1974, maintains a
university specializing in
criminology, is associated with
Interpol, and participates in special forces training programs at the
Los Angeles Police Department. In January 2017, most of the Federal Police agents serving in the city of
Buenos Aires were transferred to a new local law enforcement agency, the
Buenos Aires City Police. The new agency took over the local policing responsibilities in the capital city. ==General organization==