The Public Security Manual, which could serve as a basis for Labor in next year’s elections, proposes the creation of a permanent civilian National Guard capable of replacing law and order operations with the use of armed forces.
The “Safe Brazil, Protected Family” document was drafted by the Percio Abramo Foundation to help the PT position itself in the debate on public security – currently dominated by the right and far-right. The proposals will be discussed starting Monday (first) at a symposium held in Rio de Janeiro exclusively for members.
One of the proposed structural ideas is the establishment of a “National Guard” or a “National Civil Force” through a general competition to operate throughout the region instead of a national force.
“To date, the national force is a programme, and does not have a proper hierarchical structure, code of conduct and corrective body, consisting of police officers from the states and defense forces,” the proposal says.
“With a permanent civilian National Guard, it will gradually become unnecessary to use armed forces through Guarantee Law and Order Operations (GLO).”
The document highlights that the creation of a national civilian force through an amendment to the constitution would give the union a new police institution capable of operating throughout the country – especially on the borders and in the legal Amazon region.
GLO operations provide temporary police force to the Army. This possibility led to a clash between the federal government and the Rio de Janeiro government after the bloodiest police operation in history, last month.
Governor Claudio Castro (PL) attempted to hold Lula’s government (PT) responsible for the situation, stating that Rio was “alone in the war” and that the Defense Ministry had rejected several requests to send armored vehicles.
Lula’s government responded by saying that to achieve this, the governor should have applied for a GLO decree – which never happened.
In the 60-page booklet, the Persio Abramo Foundation says that the search for public policies that contribute to “reducing violence, combating organized crime and factions, and eliminating robberies and thefts that rob the Brazilian people of peace” has always been a priority for the Workers’ Party.
The document also proposes recreating the Ministry of Public Security, which had become extinct and merged into the Ministry of Justice under the government of Jair Bolsonaro, and doubling maximum security federal prisons from five to ten.
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