Off-Duty Argentine Police Killings Hit 75% of 2025 Cases as Low Pay Drives Second Jobs
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 24
Off-Duty Argentine Police Killings Hit 75% of 2025 Cases as Low Pay Drives Second Jobs
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 24
Summary
Seventy-five percent of deaths caused by Argentine police using service weapons in 2025 happened while officers were off duty, rights group Cels said, with 13% involving officers working as rideshare drivers.
Low salaries are pushing officers into moonlighting after 12-hour shifts, police told the Guardian, saying rideshare work can pay 42,000 pesos in four hours versus 44,000 pesos for an extra eight-hour police shift.
That overlap has turned routine side jobs into armed encounters: Cels recorded 16 off-duty firearm cases in 2025, up from two in 2020, including robberies, fatal shootings and an officer killed by a passenger.
Uber and DiDi ban drivers from carrying firearms, but officers commonly keep government-issued guns off duty under permissive rules that rights groups say encourage disproportionate force without backup.
Javier Milei's government publicly backs security forces even as officers say take-home pay often stays below the roughly $1,000 monthly poverty line for a family of four and resignations are rising.