They don't feel any different, but they are making all the difference in Rio de Janeiro's Military Police force. Even though they are a minority, they are now rising to command positions. According to PMERJ General Commander Colonel Mário Sérgio, with the exception of only a few roles that may engage in armed confrontation, all doors are open to women at the PMERJ, and they are key to Rio de Janeiro's UPPs.
The population of Belo Horizonte has a new crime fighting tool in the city, virtual crime maps offering data on homicides in the city. Launched two months ago, the capital of Brazil's Minas Gerais state hopes the Programa Virtual de Georreferenciamento de Homicídios da Secretaria de Estado da Defesa Social (SEDS) will aid police officers and communities to feel safer and be safer.
In an exclusive article for Comunidad Segura, Alexandra Valéria Vicente da Silva, a psychologist of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro tells us about the prejudices overcome and the valued services of psychologists available for those in uniform and with their lives often on the line.
Public Security Programme Coordinator of the UN-LiREC, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, William Godnick gave InterCambio an exclusive interview on his new police training course and comments on the role of police training in lowering youth violence.
It's the last day of school, and just before children go off on vacations, they get an unusual visit: two police officers and a former-drug trafficker. The members of the Papo de Responsa program want to give kids an opportunity to have a free conversation on topics that are usually too constrained by simplistic messages. The question is, what do you do with your life?
Criminals are not madmen, they are pragmatic and no different from everyone else. But prisons are 'graduate courses in crime', these and other concerns were expressed from the inside out, by people who work in the system and think there is great need for reform. The topic was discussed at a recent seminar on Crime and Security in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Venezuela's Luis Gerardo Gabaldón has been studying mechanisms of social control as responses to crime, and states that some of the failures of the current police forces in the region may be attributed to the fact these mechanisms are disconnected from the control of police violence. The professor discusses the need for practical training manuals and adequate training for police officers.
"A self perpetuating, constantly expanding disaster" is how a police officer with 26 years experience sees the war on drugs, it penalizes the underpriviledged, generates violence, pushes people into joblessness and enables violence and needless deaths. Jack Cole took a stand, co-founding LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Proibition, showing that less and less professionals in law enforcement are happy to keep quiet about their misgivings.
Homicides have dropped by 35% and robberies 30% in this city in the sertão of Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil. The data compares the first semester of 2009 to the first semester of 2008. The number of homicide investigations completed and forwarded to the judiciary increased in 314% in the same period. An integration of the two police forces, town hall, the judiciary and civil society are key for such heartening results.
A Minas Gerais reentry project for ex-convicts offers them not only
courses and job training, but now allied to a new law, tangible job
prospects. The law enacted two weeks ago, provides state subsidies for
companies that employ ex-convicts, in a bid to curb recidivism and cut
down on detention expenses.
Criminals are not madmen, they are pragmatic and no different from everyone else. But prisons are 'graduate courses in crime', these and other concerns were expressed from the inside out, by people who work in the system and think there is great need for reform. The topic was discussed at a recent seminar on Crime and Security in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"A self perpetuating, constantly expanding disaster" is how a police officer with 26 years experience sees the war on drugs, it penalizes the underpriviledged, generates violence, pushes people into joblessness and enables violence and needless deaths. Jack Cole took a stand, co-founding LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Proibition, showing that less and less professionals in law enforcement are happy to keep quiet about their misgivings.
Homicides have dropped by 35% and robberies 30% in this city in the sertão of Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil. The data compares the first semester of 2009 to the first semester of 2008. The number of homicide investigations completed and forwarded to the judiciary increased in 314% in the same period. An integration of the two police forces, town hall, the judiciary and civil society are key for such heartening results.
