The NaPol-Intel project

Nationalization of police information in Belgium (1918-1961) : Process of democratization and bureaucratic knowledge management

The BRAIN NaPol-Intel research project aims to better understand developments in the management of police information as well as the processes of centralization of police services implemented, in Belgium, from the end of the First World War to the beginning of the 1960. The objective is also to analyze the links between the transformations of a Belgian society in full mutation and the development of police services marked by an increasing professionalization., at all levels. The aim is also to examine methods of creation, circulation and use of police intelligence. It will thus be a question of determining in what way the management of this information has made it possible to shape and legitimize the police or security policies and practices of our country.. Three lines of research have been defined in order to study these questions. : public order, moral order and “police legitimation”. These themes should make it possible to better understand the democratic advances that Belgian society experienced throughout the XX^th century. A better understanding of how the state reacted to the occupation of public space, to the increased freedom to express opinions or to exercise political activism will make it possible to better grasp the developments of our time.

Openness to the search for new archives, improving their access, their valorization and their perspective are at the heart of the project. Emphasis will be placed on the exploitation of the archives of two major institutions : the Gendarmerie and the Police général du Royaume (PGR). Created within the Ministry of the Interior in 1934, this was intended to collect information on potential threats to public order. Torn between the different police bodies, for a long time it had great difficulty in fulfilling its missions but had a lasting influence on the history of the Belgian police.

As part of this project, led by the Archives générales du Royaume thanks to the support of the Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO), thousands of lists of gendarmes, reports of exceptional events, of order registers or photos of brigades will soon be open for research. In 2021, a first series of personal files of gendarmes was also made available. During summer, 30.000 Belgian Gendarmerie archive scans were carried out. Enough to stimulate innovative research whose results will interest both researchers and the general public. In close collaboration with Menepolhis, the State archives will keep you regularly informed of the main progress of the project.

For more information, please see the project page on the State Archives website