Following the rules? Use-of-force protocols and the ethics of self-preservation in the Chilean police

This article examines how officers of the Chilean National Police (Carabineros) interpret regulations governing the use of force. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative study with 30 officers in the Metropolitan Region (2025–6), we identify two structuring dimensions. The first is institutional: officers value protocols as practical guides and safeguards against accountability, while recognizing organizational deficiencies that hinder compliance. The second is situational: defensive repertoires in the face of protocol disengagement emerge in contexts perceived as dangerous, uncertain and subject to public scrutiny. The central finding is an ethic of self-preservation, a practical rationality in which protecting physical integrity, professional standing and institutional reputation organizes officers’ engagement with legal norms. This constitutes situated obedience, in which regulations are selectively reinterpreted to meet operational demands within an organization navigating democratic oversight and pressures toward punitive empowerment.