Modalities of policing in contemporary Brazil

Modalities of policing in contemporary Brazil

This chapter explores the deep tensions between two major and opposing policing paradigms in contemporary Brazil. In 2008, the state government of Rio de Janeiro began implementing a massive community policing initiative that sought to move away from the more combative, heavy-handed strategies of the past. The policing policy reform metric of success was rooted in lives saved rather than arrests made. This initiative was proceeded by large-scale adoption of similar community-oriented approaches to policing in almost all states in Brazil. Prolonged economic and political crisis accompanied by rising violent crime rates have since threatened (and perhaps already reversed) the community-oriented approach to policing. Police engagement with communities appears to be reverting to rival paradigms more reflective of colonial paramilitaristic approaches. Here, attention is drawn to a primary factor – populist politics – impacting policing policies and practices in a Global South context. The chapter elaborates on how contextual instabilities influence and or necessitate adaptations to the most visible arm of governance, and what these changes mean for police–community relations in a country with a primarily marginalised populace.