FYI: Types of Police in Brazil

I promised this awhile back. Here it goes.

In Brazil, the levels of police are a bit more complex than in the US or the UK.

We have:

Guarda Municipal: this is the lowest rung of the police, and are technically not cops. They tend to help with traffic and do occasional sweeps of illegal street vendors. As such, they have a fair amount of women in the force, unlike some of the other types of police. They "maintain order."

Policia Militar: this is the state police force, and are under control of the state governor. Since they are technically the "military," they can be called up for duty in the case of emergencies, much like the American National Guard. They're responsible for law enforcement and security, and often invade favelas on missions to recover drugs and arrest traffickers, though many times they are actually working with traffickers, taking bribes and supplying them with arms.

*BOPE: Batalha de Operacoes da Policia Especial --a subgroup of the Policia Militar, this is the SWAT team unit of the military police, responsible for going on missions deemed failed or impossible by the Policia Militar. They were featured in the film "Tropa de Elite" (Elite Squad), showing their intense recruiting and training techniques and controversial missions in the favelas. Essentially, they battle against the drug traffickers, in what some consider "a private war."

Policia Civil: This section of the police, the civil police, is responsible for detective work, investigations, and booking criminals.  They are also state-based, and don't use uniforms, but are armed. Their salaries are considerably lower than American police with the same duties, and in Rio they frequently protest.

*CORE: Coorenadoria de Recursos Especias -- a subgroup of the a subgroup of the Policia Civil, they perform highly complex operations, like disarming bombs. They are quite similar to the BOPE, but are considered part of the civil police. This type of police exists in Rio to perform similar missions to BOPE, like invading favelas.  It is easy to confused them with the BOPE, since they ride in black jeeps with huge guns sticking out the window, with nearly the same symbol as BOPE.

Policia Federal: this is the national police force, under control of the federal government. They investigate crimes against the state, combat international drug trafficking and terrorism, and control the borders, meaning they work in airports and also issue passports to Brazilians. They are the equivalent of the FBI and immigration police in one.

Comments

[amy]

BOPE and CORE are only in Rio de Janeiro. Similar groups in other states have different names for example ROTA and GARRA.Just for a minor correction. :)