Abstract
The Internal Affairs Divisions (IAD) plays a crucial role in regulation by engaging in control and oversight, with the responsibility of protecting institutions, public agents, and society. If, on the one hand, internal affairs divisions help to improve the institution's relationship with society, on the other hand, punishments can negatively affect its employees. At the Scientific Police unit analyzed, since its separation from the Civil Police, there has not been created a correctional structure inserted in the institutional organization chart, therefore the servers answer to the Internal Affairs Sector of SSP. In this way, this research was proposed to try to understand whether, and to what extent, the absence of an Internal Affairs Department at Scientific Police is considered a factor that impacts on the organizational climate and on people management processes, as perceived by staff and managers. For this purpose, data obtained from occupants of management positions at Scientific Police and from a group of police officers who faced infraction investigated by the Internal Affairs Sector of SSP in the past five years. The analysis revealed that police officers and managers consider that the current model of inspection and internal control mainly impacts on the following aspects: trust in the process’s institutional supervision, trust in hierarchical superiors and interpersonal relationships. Both officers and managers consider it essential to include the existence of an IAD in the institution's strategic planning. Furthermore, it was reported there was a tendency toward the trivialization of the use of internal affairs, emphasizing the need for a more effective structure.