By Ségolène Poirier, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Military Police (Polícia Militar, PM) are planning on forming 7,000 new recruits by the end of this year. The main goal is to reach 60,000 PMs – 16,000 more than today – by 2016, and ensure security for the major events like the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
State Secretary of Security, José Mariano Beltrame explains: “We are working on the training of military police, [we want] to do as soon as possible what was not done in ten-fifteen years by previous governments.”
“We need more people, but also a training of police officers with a higher quality. That means, not only increasing the number of trained officers […] and now developing a program of ongoing training for police officers already on active duty,” says Beltrame.
In addition, the possibility of hiring instructors from the U.S. FBI has been presented – to provide specialized training on how to prevent attacks, and how to react after an attack.
The Secretary of Education and Prevention Programs, Juliana Barroso, responsible for structuring the training, said that modernization will cost R$6 million. “The state government is increasingly more concerned with the quality of recruits, despite the concern to prepare them in time for the schedule of the UPPs.”
For the security consultant and former BOPE captain Paul Storani, it is important to continue improving the training, especially the marksmanship. By the end of this year, the expectation is that each student will have taken 840,000 shots.
“…At some point, the recruit will have to use their firearm. Therefore, ongoing training is essential to prepare for the worst.”
This follows recent new procedures announced to fight police corruption in Rio state, and just months after the police threatened state-wide strike action for higher pay.
Read more (in Portuguese).
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