FUNCTIONS OF MUNICIPAL GUARDS IN BRAZIL: EXPANSION OF ACTIVITY, CARRYING WEAPONS AND PRESERVATION OS HUMAN RIGHTS

Authors

• Theodoro Luis Mallmann de Oliveira
• João Pedro Schmidt

Abstract

The serious crisis in public security in Brazil has led public managers to adopt various ways of dealing with it, including alternatives that are debatable from the point of view of constitutionality and legality. The institutions responsible for public security at states and the federal level do not show sufficient capacity to ensure the protection of citizens. In this scenario, the municipal guards have expanded their functions. In addition to their traditional role in traffic enforcement and surveillance of municipal property, in many cases they also carry out policing duties, even forming military-like platoons, carrying rifles, carrying out patrols, arrests and personal and vehicle searches. In this scenario, the aim is to analyze the expansion of the powers of the Brazilian municipal guards and their consistency with their constitutional purposes and the protection of human rights