ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on ethnographic fieldwork done over a year and conducted within the municipal police in the outskirts of Mexico City - following previous studies that used a similar method - in order to focus on specific methodological implications posed by carrying out participant observations therein. The chapter discusses how access to the police was obtained, briefly reflecting on how that mirrors the way access to power in general operates in Mexico. Thereafter, the chapter illustrates how the politically orchestrated nature of that access defined the achievement of trust within the municipal police. It discusses how access to the municipal police places the researcher close to the violence they want to control or the challenges they seek to overcome. Building on these notions, the chapter discusses how consent and anonymity were ensured in the context of the power dynamics that offered access to this study. Finally, the chapter describes the process of leaving the field while highlighting how that signified an abrupt end to the rapport that had been developed with key informants for months.
