UPPs: The Uniform Doesn't Fit Yet

Seventy percent of officers working in Rio de Janeiro's Police Pacification Units (UPP) in Rio de Janeiro would prefer to work in another Military Police unit. The figure stands out on a field study carried out by the Center for Security Studies and Citizenship at Candido Mendes University (Cesec / Ucam) that interviewed 359 officers at the end of 2010.


Asked what they would change about the UPPs, most police officers (63 percent) said they would improve their own working conditions. The rest were split between expanding social programs (12.6%), expanding the UPP (9%), strictening police enforcement (5.2%), improving training (4.4%) and doing away with the UPP altogether (3.5%). Regarding working conditions, the most frequent complaints were: infrastructure (37.6%),  in particular dormitories (80.5%) and bathrooms (64.5%); salaries (24.7%) and amount of work (9.8%).

The results suggest that, among the police, there is little sense of being part of a special group or participating in a new model of policing. That is, they have not yet filled their roles. Their demands and perceptions are marked predominantly by individual interests and issues.

Researchers interviewed 349 officers and 10 junior officers in nine UPP units (Santa Marta, Cantagalo and Pavão-Pavãozinho, Borel, Cidade de Deus, Providência, Formiga, Batan, Chapéu Mangueira and Babilônia, and Tabajaras) for the study "Pacificying Police Units: What the Officers Think". Interviews took place in at the posts between November 22 and December 14, 2010, during which attacks on cars and buses culminated in military occupation of Morro do Alemão and the subsequent flight of traffickers.

Led by sociologists Barbara Musumeci Soares, Leonarda Musumeci (right and left in photo), Julita Lemgruber and Silvia Ramos, the study was presented to academics, police and security authorities in the area during the Fifth Brazilian Forum on Public Security, held May 14-16 in Brasilia.

Barbara Soares emphasizes the temporality of the poll results; inteviews were conducted during the UPP implementation phase, before physical facilities were finished, coinciding with moments of tension, based on fears of being invaded by drug traffickers. Moreover, new officers were often met with hostility from local residents.

"The work in the battalion seemed less difficult. It is not easy to spend the day in a place without infrastructure, in the midst of hostility. There have been years of tension between the people of the favelas and the police," she said.

From a list of items on working conditions presented in the questionnaire, the only one that recieved a positive rating from most of the policemen was the distance between the UPP and the battalion. For the remaining items (see chart below), the evaluation "good" was less than 40% of total responses. Almost 60% of respondents rated their salary as "bad", despite the $500 given to UPP officers. 

Speaking on a panel at the forum in Brasilia, Colonel Robson Rodrigues, commander of the UPP, noted that the UPP police are recent graduates, who have not been weathered by previous law enforcement experience. However, most recruits in the UPP would prefer to work in the Military Police (PM).  "They feel somehow cheated. And because they are very young, they're keeping their eye on other options for the future," he said.

Despite its problems, research shows a high degree of satisfaction with the police: 40.6% reported being satisfied, contrasted with 31.4% who were dissatisfied and 28% who reported feeling indifferent. Previous research on PMs from various units that included similar questions, found higher levels of dissatisfaction among professionals.

According to the study, police responses varied from one community to another, but not in a way that helped to draw correlations between satisfaction and characteristics of UPPS. "This reinforces the idea that what weighs in the evaluation of the police has no relation to the new policing model, but rather with individual interests, problems and demands," say the authors.

According to the researchers, one factor that could explain officers' low identification with the project is the expectation that it will not last: 70% of respondents agreed with the statement that the UPP were created just to secure the World Cup and the Olympics. The interruption of innovative community policing like Group of Policing in Special Areas (GPAE) probably influences the uncertainty about the future of UPPs.

More than half the officers interviewed (53.7%) have the same impressions today as when they began working for the UPPs, while almost a third (30.3%) have changed their opinions since the beginning their work, with their opinions becoming more favorable. Those who were disappointed comprise 16%. Nearly half of respondents say the media portrays the UPPs more positively than they actually are.

"It seems as though it's still not clear to officers that the UPP represent a shift in security policy and is here to stay," says the survey. The researchers say it is necessary to emphasize during police training, elements that reinforce identification with the project, that highlight its innovation, and that underlines its importance. They also advocate listening to and exchanging information with police, as well as offering guidance and support for their work.

"It is important that officers also feel the benefit from these changes, working around structural limitations that might contaminate their perceptions of the UPP," recommends the study. The researchers will monitor the officers of the UPP for over two years.

Rifles in tow, Non-lethal weapons at hand

Another significant finding of the survey is that 94% of UPP officers do not want to give up their arms. Soares says number is likely partly linked to the occupation of Complexo de Alemão, out of fear from retribution from traffickers. "The rifle is a symbol of power and strength. Young officers want to carry a gun—not because they want to use it. With it, they feel protected," the report explains.

More than half of the justifications for this need (51.4%) refer to the risk of an external attack or armed traffickers inside or around the community. Others say weapon use is important to prevent police intimidation and crime.

O receio de ataques externos – maior temor para 54,7% dos entrevistados – justifica, para muitos, o uso generalizado de fuzil. Muito poucas respostas (1,8%) mencionam a necessidade de uso do fuzil apenas nos pontos mais vulneráveis da comunidade. Para Bárbara, o fuzil também representa um resquício da visão do trabalho policial voltado para o confronto, mas ela acredita que, com a consolidação das UPPs, sua importância terá uma tendência natural de diminuir.

Fear of external attacks—the biggest fear for 54.7% of respondents—justifies, for many, the widespread use of guns. Although only one-third of police use non-lethal weapons possession, the majority (95.8%) consider them necessary, especially pepper spray (49.5%) and  the taser (30.6%).

Relations with Residents


After external threat, the next greatest fear (according to 12.8% of respondents) is the worsening of relations with residents. UPPs also feared using outdated practices (8.6%), worsening of working conditions (8.2%), that the UPP would come to an end (5.3%) and a lack or reduction of support for the UPP units (4.5%).

When asked about best and worst aspects of working in the UPP, the most frequent responses, both positive and negative, spoke of working conditions and the relationship with the community (chart below). 

According to respondents, however, the residents' feelings toward them are improving. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said that at the beginning of the UPP, most residents demonstrated negative feelings such as anger (29%), distrust (28.5%) and fear (17%). But for the majority of respondents (56.2%), current feelings of the population are overwhelmingly positive: acceptance (17.6%), sympathy (17%), respect (14.6%) and admiration (7%).

Respondents attribute the positive change to several factors, particularly their working style and own continued presence of police in communities. Those most receptive to the UPP are small children, adults and seniors; adolescents and young adults are more hostile. Besides age, another factor associated with reciptivity was being a worker (receptive tendencies) or being directly or indirectly linked to crime (hostile tendencies).

The most frequent occurrences in the communities, according to police, are: disturbing the peace (75.1%), harassment (62.6%), domestic violence (61.6%) and quarrels and fist fights (52.1%). Among the activities undertaken most frequently by police are frisks (79.4%), receiving complaints (59.9%), registering events in police (45.5%) and meetings with superiors (32%). Meetings with residents were cited by only 5% of the police. 

The study says that, considering the nature of community or neighborhood policing, there are few police officers engaged in typical community activities, such as contact with existing organizations and associations in the communities. Among the institutions with which the police tried to establish contact are residents' associations (35.3%), kindergartens and schools (30.3%), churches (25.7%), NGOs (18.1%), cultural groups (17.9%) and community media (9.9%).

For virtually all respondents, the main functions of UPP officers are to mediate conflicts between residents (98.6%) and reduce domestic violence (95.8%). They also see their role as regulating recreational activities (85.4%), enabling public agencies to resolve problems (84.1%), identifying problems in the community (83%), developing educational and sports activities (75, 7%), doing relief work (70.5%), promoting parties and events (54.3%) and helping to resolve infrastructure problems (33%).

Colonel Robson Rodrigues noted that the police think they should focus on conflict resolution, but spend most of their time approaching and searching of persons entering and leaving the pacified area. "They say they are focused on the approach because, they say, that is what is valued," he says. 

A Need for Practical Training

Most UPP officers (63%) felt adequately trained to work in the UPP, but nearly half of respondents (48.5%) said they felt a lack of experienced guidance in superiors. Of those who said they did not feel prepared, the majority complained about the lack of practical disciplines. From a list of ten items presented in the questionnaire, most respondents estimated that eight were taught properly in their training. Items that ranked highest as inadequately taught were: the use of non-lethal weapons and procedures for domestic violence (42% and 43%, respectively).

Colonel Robson Rodrigues (pictured) said that there are medium- and long-term plans to create a UPP police academy. The project will be done in partnership with the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and its physical design in will be done in partnership with the private sector. $26 million a year has been allotted for the project. 

O coronel Robson Rodrigues (foto) contou que há planos de médio e longo prazos de se criar uma escola prática de policiais para UPP, numa UPP modelo em uma área com os arredores pacificados.

O projeto pedagógico será feito em parceria com a Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Uerj) e o projeto fisico em parceria com a iniciativa privada. O projeto utilizaria recursos de um fundo de R$ 26 milhões ao ano.

Methodology and Profiles

To prepare the questionnaire, 29 police officers were interviewed in three focus groups composed of UPP commanders, officers, sergeants, corporals, and soldiers. The questionnaire has 60 questions, and was administered to a random sample of police. Data was collected in the nine UPP already opened at the beginning of the study.

The questionnaire addressed the profile of the police, their education and training, working conditions, characteristics and problems of the community, residents' relationship with the police, police assessment of the UPP's design, and levels of police satisfaction and expectations.

Of the 359 respondents, only 3 are women. The vast majority—nearly 85%—was between 25 and 33 years old at the time of the survey. 63.5% have completed high school, 27% have had some high school education, 8.4% were college graduates, 16.4% was still in school, the majority (59.3%) in university courses. Almost half described themselves as mixed race, 31% as white, and 17% as black. 45.9% had monthly family income between 5 and 10 times the minimum wage, and 31.5%, reported income between 3 and 5 salaries. 

Perhaps because it is composed of young officers at the beginning of their careers, part of the UPP contingent do not plan on staying with the PM until retirement: 22.3% were reportedly looking for "something better", 41.4% will leave if an opportunity appears better; and 36.3% plan to stay in the police until retirement.

More inormation:

Brief repport: "Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora: o que pensam os policiais" (in Portuguese, PDF)

Written in collaboration with Lis Moriconi

Top and Cover photos: Marcos Benjamim (Seseg/RJ)

Translated by Danielle Renwick