Thiago André Pierobom de Ávila

THE CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL, ratified in 1988, gave special attention to oversight of the police. Since Brazil had a history of dictatorship during the 60´s and 70´s, the new Constitution designated the Public Ministry to serve as "ombudsman." This institution is usually translated as the prosecution, but has many other functions related to the defense of civil rights and collective interests, one of them being the external control of the police.

The Brazilian Public Ministry has oversight authority over the two police agencies in Brazil: the Military Police, in charge of preventive patrol, and the Civil Police, in charge of the investigation of crimes. Each state has a different organization for the Public Ministry. In the Federal District of Brasília (Brazil´s capital), the Public Ministry has four offices related to police oversight: the Police Oversight Office, the Torture Prosecution Office, the Military Prosecution Office, and the Misdemeanor Prosecutors. The Police Oversight Office, composed of three Prosecutors and administrative staff, has the function of coordinating oversight related to the activities of the Civil Police. They receive citizen complaints and conduct independent misconduct investigations, prosecute civil police officers for crimes and administrative punishment, sue the Civil Police Department, oversee the Internal Affairs investigations, and make policy recommendations. They also visit Police Stations and Prisons to inspect conditions, and oversee the effectiveness of Civil Police investigations. Periodic reports are generated to inform the public of complaint statistics, investigations, and convictions related to police misconduct cases.

The Public Ministry has engaged prosecutors, police officers and the community to ensure that the police respect civil rights.

In 2007 the Police Oversight Office, in collaboration with community members, developed a booklet, "Citizen Police Project" which discusses the rights and responsibilities of citizens in dealing with police officers, as well as complaint procedures. The Military Police, the Judiciary and the Bar Associations supported the project. The booklet has been used in an advertising campaign to reduce incidents of the abuse of authority, unnecessary street clashes between citizens and officers, and increase accountability of the police. Prosecutors gave lectures for police officers and for students in schools in at risk neighborhoods. The lectures focused on the respect of the civil rights of citizens by police officers, to include illegal arrests, force issues, the right of citizens to ask for officers' names, and the right to file a misconduct complaint and receive information about the outcome of the case.

In June 2008, a Police Oversight Congress was held in Brasília to discuss new strategies by the Public Ministry. The conference included international lecturers Philip Eure (OPC of Washington, DC), Richard Rosenthal (Independent Monitor of the City & County of Denver, CO), and a video lecture by Merrick Bobb (Police Assessment Resource Center, CA). The conference produced the "Letter of Brasília", with proposals to improve the Public Ministry´s activities in police oversight throughout Brazil. Soon afterwards, the National Association of General Attorneys of Brazil created a special commission to study how to improve the Public Ministry´s performance. After a preliminary report of this commission, the National Counsel of the Public Ministry ordered the Attorney General to create procedures to compel all criminal prosecutors to regularly engage in police oversight activities, such as periodic visits to police stations, public reporting, and developing procedures to receive complaints against police officers.

It is a great challenge to control police power in a country in which there remain a great number of socially excluded people, where some death squads composed of police officers exist, and organized crime is at times at war with the police. Through the direction of the 1988 Constitution and work that has been done, improvements have been made to ensure a fairer social control system. In Brazil, the Public Ministry is working to fulfill its duty.

Thiago Andre Pierobom de Avila is a federal prosecutor in Brasilia, Brazil.

Links of interest

Letter of Brasília: Cartta de Brasília
Booklet "Citizen Police": Polícia Cidadã
Pictures of Prosecutors' Lectures in the Schools: Cartilhas

Revista da National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement , Fall 2009