External oversight of the Military Police

State Attorney General’s Office announces creation of group to discuss Military Police action at protests

Following the announcement by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office last Tuesday that it would monitor police conduct at the next street demonstrations against the government, the São Paulo State Attorney General’s Office, the body that controls the State Public Prosecutor’s Office, today acknowledged the excesses of the Military Police.

In a meeting held this Thursday, September 8, the São Paulo State Attorney General, Gianpaolo Poggio Smanio, proposed creating a group formed by civil society representatives and government institutions to “improve the actions of the police at protests”.

The announcement was made after human rights organizations, in February this year, submitted a representation to the State Attorney General’s Office claiming that the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office was not doing its job controlling police excesses, as required by the Federal Constitution and state legislation.

“We believe that this proposal by the Attorney General signals that the Office recognizes what civil society has been denouncing for a long time, with abundant proof and evidence: that the police are violently repressing demonstrators who exercise their right to protest,” said Rafael Custódio, coordinator of the Justice program at Conectas.

“Given the recent cases of police violence and abuse of power at demonstrations, we emphasize the urgency of ceasing the illegal practice of ‘arrest for verification’ and of preventing lawyers and public defenders from communicating with detainees,” said André Kehdi, president of IBCCRIM (Brazilian Criminal Sciences Institute).

The proposal was presented at an emergency meeting in the presence of the São Paulo Military Police command, the state public security secretary Mágino Alves Barbosa Filho and the state justice secretary Márcio Elias Rosa.

The organizations that submitted the representation, which were also present at the meeting, have requested that the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office appoint members to oversee the Military Police at protests and that it clearly specify the legal procedures to be followed in cases of violations.

Furthermore, they have also asked that GECEP (the unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office created to perform the external oversight of the police) provide information on all the measures taken to combat police abuse and that the Military Police publicly disclose its own procedures regulating police action at demonstrations, the so-called “POP” (Standard Operating Procedures) which is currently a secret document.

• Click here to read the public statement by the organizations on the meeting held today in the State Attorney General’s Office