Municipal Guards (), also called the Municipal Civil Guards (''Guardas Civis Municipais'', singular: ''Municipal Civil Guard''), are the

Municipal police Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive fundi ...

forces of municipalities (cities) of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. They are subordinated to the municipality

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

(''prefeitos''). Trained as a civilian uniformed agency, the city guards are responsible for protecting the municipal properties and installations, according to the Brazilian Federal Constitution. Their patrols are called ''rondas'' (rounds) and there are 1,200 municipalities with Municipal Guards with more than 120,000 operatives according to the

Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

Legal basis

The Brazilian Federal Constitution, Title III, Article 144, § (paragraph 8th) defines the mission of The Municipal Guards: And federal law 14022 of 2014. redefining the guards' minimum operating principles. The minimum principles of action of municipal guards are: I - protection of fundamental human rights, the exercise of citizenship and public freedoms; II - preservation of life, reduction of suffering and reduction of losses; III - preventive patrolling; IV - commitment to the social evolution of the community; and #"...Protection of goods, services and facilities..." (''ipsis literis citation'') #Organizing, directing and monitoring vehicle traffic in their territory #Ensuring the right of the community to enjoy or use public goods, obeying the legal requirements #Protecting the environment and historical, cultural and ecological heritage of the municipality #Providing assistance for domestic and foreign tourists

Civil Guard

The Municipal Civil Guard is a type of municipal civil police which can be created by specific laws of the chamber of the councilmen of the city as an instrument for public security in the city. Its components possess the same prerogatives and legal obligations as the municipality's employees. The GCM, as it is known, can still assist the other agencies of public security, such as: the

Federal Police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

, Federal Road Police, Federal Railroad Police, Civil Police, (including the Superintendence of State Scientific Police Service) and the

Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

including the Corps of Military Firemen. Based in some ''

stare decisis Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...

'' of the

Supreme Federal Court The Federal Supreme Court (, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the country's Constitutional Court. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for constitutional issues and its rulings ...

, the scientific police is organized by the states and The Caput of Article 144 is merely exemplary and is no longer considered an explicit authorization. In São Paulo they receive the name ''Metropolitan Civil Guard''. The use of

navy blue Navy blue is a dark shade of the color blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color name, ...

uniforms for the Guards has been stipulated. In

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

it is only called only Municipal Guard and the uniform color is khakis. The Civil Guards are organizations of civil, not militarized organizations. Civil Guards are authorized to carry firearms only allowed with legal authorization and the transport is granted by the Federal government (Policy Statute of the Disarmament). Up to 1965, the Civil Police of the most populous States of Brazil had in its administrative structure a full integration with the Civil Guard, but the police reforms at the beginning of the 20th century and designated them as

preventive police Preventive police is that aspect of law enforcement intended to act as a deterrent to the commission of crime. Preventive policing is considered a defining characteristic of the modern police, typically associated with Robert Peel's London Metrop ...

, together, with the Military Police. These reforms were made more clear in the Coup D'état on March 30, 1964; which ended autonomy in the Brazilian federal subjects (the Union, the Federal District, The States of Union and the Autonomal Municipalities). The idea was to eliminate any resistance against the military regime. The overreaching goal of the act was to eliminate the Republican State Civilian ''Guardas'' as well as the Republican Municipal Civilian ''Guardas''. The deriving government of the Military Coup of '64, establishing rigid control on the municipal and state uniformed police forces, extinguished the Civil Guards and many Municipal Guards too. They also succeeded in regulating the supervisory norms of the Army on the Military Police and nominated an official of the Army to command them in all the States.

Constitutional Amendment

There is a PEC (Proposal of Constitutional Amendment, PEC nº 534/2002) which would change the Brazilian City/Municipal Guards' constitutional status. If approved, the good use of

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

will be regulated by every Municipal Guard Corps to serve and protect the Brazilian cities and citizens, transforming these corporations into

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

(The Brazilian people consider the ''Guardas'' policemen de facto, and the Brazilian Ministry of Justice are treating the guards as

constables A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

. However, the Brazilian State Police Forces do not agree with this ideal- Indeed, all the municipal guard operatives accuse the State sheriffs and colonels of interfering in the municipality's autonomy. In Portuguese, this act is called "''ingerência''"). The PEC was approved in the Brazilian Federal Senate and the Brazilian Federal House of Representatives Justice Commission (now it is waiting to be approved in the Brazilian Federal House of Representatives, in two voting sessions, with open vote).

References

External links

Portuguese only

guardas municipais association site

PEC law site

PEC law site

Ministério da Justiça

STIVE - Site sobre Segurança Pública

English language links

* *

{{Law enforcement in Brazil Law enforcement agencies of Brazil Municipal law enforcement agencies