Governor Tarcisio de Freitas announced on Friday (28/11) that Osvaldo Nico Gonçalves will be the new Secretary of Public Security of the State of São Paulo. He will replace Guilherme Dirit, who will leave office next week to resume his term in the House of Representatives.
The current Executive Secretary of the department, Nico, as he is known, has a law degree and is a judicial police specialist. Since 2023, he has held strategic functions in the SSP and will be responsible for continuing policies to combat organized crime and strengthen the police forces.
Who is Osvaldo Nico Gonsalves?
Osvaldo Nico Gonçalves graduated in law in 1989. He is a professor at the Civil Police Academy and specializes in judicial police and the criminal justice system.
He entered his police career as a police investigator, a role for which he was qualified in 1979. Until 1992, he worked as an investigator in several civilian police departments, such as DECAP, DHPP, DEIC and GARRA.
After completing the Police Commander’s Training Course in 1992, he established the first civilian police special operations group and was the department’s first flying police chief.
He worked at the Bank Robbery Police Center (DEIC), and for 12 years was supervisor of GARRA’s Special Rescue Group (GER), where he commanded over 200 civilian police officers.
He established the Anti-Bomb Group, which aims to clear up crimes involving threats, attacks, robberies or bombings, and the Motorcycle Group, both in Gara.
In 2019, he served as the Senior Director of the Specialized Police Operations Division (DOPE). In April 2022, he was appointed Commissioner General of Police, the highest position in the state’s civilian police. Since January 2023, he has been serving as Executive Secretary at the State Secretariat for Public Security.