Who polices the police?

Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to discuss external oversight of police activity

In response to a representation submitted by several organizations and human rights groups in February, the highest body of the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office could determine tomorrow, July 5, who is responsible for the oversight of police activity within the organization. The duty of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to oversee the police is established in Article 129 of the Federal Constitution of 1988. According to the organizations, this oversight is not performed satisfactorily.

“Anyone who lives in the urban outskirts or engages in street protests knows full well that the police have carte blanche from the State to repress and intimidate people and even to take their lives. This is due, in part, to the lack of investigation and accountability for abuses,” said Henrique Apolinario, a lawyer for the Justice program at Conectas.

“Democracy requires independent oversight by some bodies over others. As long as the Public Prosecutor’s Office is complicit in the abuses of the police in São Paulo, we will never resolve the problem of violence,” he concluded.

The representation submitted by the organizations requests, among other things, information on what the Public Prosecutor’s Office has done to comply with its constitutional duty. The organizations were motivated by the lack of any investigation into abuses committed by police at protests. The document was received by the São Paulo State Attorney General in February and forwarded to Gecep (Police Activity Special External Oversight Group).

In response, the group’s executive secretary, Luciana Frugiuele, said in an official correspondence on April 14 that the document would be shelved because another similar request was under analysis by the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office – which, in turn, has already claimed that it is not responsible for this matter. The organizations then filed an appeal questioning the outcome given by Gecep. It is now up to the nine members of the General Council, in addition to the State Attorney General and the Inspector General, to decide on who should respond to the representation.

“We hope that the General Council will put an end to this game of passing the buck by Gecep and that it can, once and for all, clarify to the population who is responsible for the job of police oversight and what has been done to confront the problem,” said Apolinario.

The session of the General Council of the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office to discuss the matter will take place tomorrow, July 5, starting at 2 pm, at Rua Riachuelo, 115, room 945. Admission is open to the public.