From the analysis of police inquests we try to figure out how the people who lived in the town of Victoria (Brazil) by the end of the nineteenth century dealt with the police work. We are interested in the ordinary citizen's responses to the police law enforcement action, mainly from the policeman standpoint or else, from the perspective of the ones responsible for the maintenance of public order, since they were individuals from the same social milieu than those they had to keep under control. So, their role and scope of action were constantly redefined according to their interpersonal relations, for the authority principle had to be affirmed and recognized at each situation.
police action; individual reaction; police investigations; Vitória; 19th century.