Professionalizing the Amazonas military police through training

Abstract

This article examines a new national program of professional education for military police officers, and how it was implemented in the State of Amazonas, in Brazil. Police reform has taken a high place on the Brazilian political agenda due to their low legitimacy, inefficacy in the execution of their duties, and constant allegations of police corruption and abuses of power. Education is seen as an important instrument for improving policing in Brazil. In an exploratory study, in-depth interviews were conducted with training participants in order to understand the political and organizational issues involved in implementing new guidelines for high-level officer training. The continuing issues facing this reform agenda item include a culture fostered during the authoritarian military era, the lack of police legitimacy in the eyes of the public and elites alike, and the inadequacy of its organizational models for a democratic context. The discrepancies between policy and practice observed in Amazonas were not a question of training efficacy per se, but reflected persisting problems at the local and national levels in Brazilian policing.

Keywords:

• Brazil
• police reform
• education
• training
• democratization
• demilitarization