The National Government, through the Ministry of Security, has created the Legal Defense Office for Police Personnel, which will be under the Airport Security Police and aims to provide free sponsorship and direct institutional defense to the personnel in judicial matters. Resolution 266/2026, published this Tuesday in the Official Gazette, instructs the National Gendarmerie, the Argentine Prefecture, the Argentine Federal Police, the Federal Penitentiary Service, and the Airport Security Police to provide and ensure their active or retired personnel with legal assistance, sponsorship, or institutional legal defense in judicial cases arising from the exercise of their functions or the fulfillment of duties and obligations inherent to their status. In the document, accessed by the Argentine News Agency, it is emphasized that in the context of police functions, there are situations that may lead to the imputation of crimes or infractions against the personnel of the Federal Police and Security Forces, giving rise to judicial proceedings in which the involved agents must appoint defense lawyers or, at least, have legal advice. These processes occur because the police personnel 'performs functions of high exposure and risk, which can lead to judicial, criminal, or civil proceedings arising from criminal matters, directly or indirectly linked to the service'. For some time, the creation of the Police Legal Advisory Department had been planned, but due to budgetary issues, that sector had not been established. With the 'Office', the goal is to 'strengthen the institutional protection of the personnel, ensure timely and quality legal assistance and defense, under principles of legality, due process, transparency, and safeguarding of the police function'. Authorities reported that the institutional legal assistance and defense will proceed when, prima facie, the facts or actions are: linked to the regular exercise of the function, a legitimate service order, or an intervention within the competencies of this Security Force; there is no manifestly fraudulent action outside the service or evident abuse of the function. Excluded from the scope of this provision are: facts unrelated to the service; actions with serious indications of malice, corruption, illicit enrichment, or other assumptions incompatible with the function; conflicts of a strictly private nature without functional nexus; cases of institutional conflict of interest, technical or strategic incompatibility for sponsorship. The Office will function as follows: receive, register, and process requests for legal assistance/defense; analyze admissibility and issue technical opinions; assume sponsorship and/or representation with its own lawyers, as appropriate; coordinate and accompany authorized external defenses, establishing technical guidelines and institutional communication protocols. In addition, it will articulate with operational areas for the obtaining and preservation of background information and evidence (orders, actions, CCTV, records, communications, etc.); monitor cases and summaries linked to the service and prepare executive reports for management; propose improvements in regulations, training, and procedures to reduce litigation and strengthen operational legality; and maintain an institutional repository of relevant jurisprudential and administrative precedents for the defense of personnel. The request for assistance or defense must be submitted within five business days of being notified of the start of the proceedings or of formal knowledge, while lawyers must rule on the admissibility within ten business days, except in cases of duly justified urgency.
