Rio asks for a Federal Police – 10/24/2023 – Elio Gaspari

On the same day that Rio’s militias dominated part of the city and burned at least 35 buses, the then third man of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency revealed that the US$ 171,800 he had at home were family savings. National public security is in shambles. As Ricardo Cappelli, executive secretary of the Ministry of Justice, said, this problem will not be solved with a “silver bullet”.

As things stand, it might be best to wait for a gunsmith capable of making a similar bullet. It could come from the appreciation of the Federal Police and the gradual federalization of some crimes.

The example would come from the American Federal Bureau of Investigation. At first glance, it is a bad example. He was born in a political police department, handed over to a detestable guy who was in charge of him for 37 years, until his death in 1972.

J. Edgar Hoover persecuted blacks and leftists. He wiretapped hundreds of personalities. With his dossiers, he intimidated artists and politicians (including presidents). He did all this, but he professionalized his police and broke the back of gangs that haunted the United States. A master of political manipulation, in 1934, during Franklin Roosevelt’s government, Hoover expanded his jurisdiction, federalizing crimes that were at state level. When he died, the United States had a federal police and she got rid of her obsessions.

With this name, the Brazilian Federal Police appeared in 1967. It had a poor structure and, little by little, became professional, without the major scandals that plagued the state police. It is not an FBI, but it is far above the average of almost all Civil or Military Police. In Rio de Janeiro, she does not trust the connections and information of her counterparts.

When a governor like Cláudio Castro of Rio says that his police fight crime “day and night, seven days a week”, the Federal Police laugh. In its structure, state politicians can even influence appointments, but they never have the audacity to proclaim this power, as is done in Rio’s security system.

The PF is not a silver bullet, but it could become something similar. The militiaman who was killed by the Rio police, responding to the crime, was an escapee from state prison. Governor Castro triumphantly announced that Monday’s arrestees would go to federal jails. It didn’t occur to him to say how the bandit managed to escape.

The powerful in Brasília like to announce crazy or demophobic plans. During the aftermath of the military intervention in Rio, in 2018, a measure that allowed arrest warrants and collective searches for entire streets almost went ahead. A general went to a PM barracks and did not receive an immediate salute from the troops. In those days, councilwoman Marielle Franco asked: “How many more need to die?” She was murdered hours later.

As reporter Otávio Guedes repeats, a process of “Mexicanization” of Brazil is underway. Trafficking was associated with militias and both infiltrated first the police, then some (still few) positions in the judiciary.

After the militia carried out barbarism in Rio, the governor said he called the Minister of Justice, and Doctor Flávio Dino revealed that he would travel to the city in the company of Ricardo Cappelli. Pure choreography of power.

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