Speech against crime – 10/03/2023 – Elio Gaspari

A hall at Palácio do Planalto was nicknamed Cape Canaveral, in reference to the rocket launch base in the United States. From there, Brazilian governments launch plans and programs to solve problems and, from there, minister Flávio Dino launched Enfoc, or the National Program to Combat Criminal Organizations.

With a modern touch, Enfoc has five axes, all generic. A few days ago, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Ricardo Cappelli, said that “there is no silver bullet” for the issue of Brazilian public security. Holy words.

For decades, citizen security has been treated with a mixture of omnipotence, embolism and demophobia. Sometimes with the military intervention in Rio, sometimes with the denialism of Rui Costa, head of Lula’s Civil House and former governor of Bahia, sometimes with the solidarity of the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, in the face of the slaughter that took place in Guarujá. Rui Costa and Tarcísio de Freitas are at opposite ends of national politics, but they speak similar dialects when dealing with public security and especially the actions of their military police.

The actions of organized crime in the Amazon, in the Northeast or in Rio de Janeiro and in São Paulo have the same roots, with different foliage. Enfocs or things like that won’t solve anything. They usually result in the purchase of futuristic equipment. When everything goes wrong, the Widow’s money is put into equipment that refreshes the lives of suppliers. An example of this is the individual cameras to be used by military police officers in São Paulo. They were purchased, but are not used in operations that result in massacres.

Banditry is just the cruelest aspect of this problem. There are others, such as the secular autonomy of the Military Police, which in some states takes precedence over the duties of the Civil Police. In Rio, even the Federal Highway Police gets involved in killings.

The police chaos in the states occurs at a time when the Federal Police maintains a reasonable level of professionalism and neutrality.

From the looks of it, public security will be a priority topic on the political agenda and the situation in Bahia, with 16 years of PT governments, indicates that the king is wearing a loincloth. Not only because of the bad numbers, but also because of the arrogance.

Ricardo Cappelli had an exuberant performance as a security intervener in Brasília after January 8th. When he says there is no silver bullet for this problem, he suggests that someone in government is willing to step into the shoes of humility.

After January 8th, in a demonstration of official blindness, the government even launched the idea of ​​creating a National Guard to garrison the capital. If five police and three Armed Forces do not work, another unit is created. Fortunately the idea was forgotten.

If governments abandon arrogance and the launch of programs with long names, starting to do their homework and valuing good examples in the police, the journey will be long and rough, but it will lead somewhere.

One thing is certain, repeating what went wrong thinking that this time things will go well is just a form of self-deception, if not pure excitement.

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