Brazil: violence in (merged thread)

[Gringo Malandro]

Bill & others,

From a recently retired US police colleague, from upstate New York State:

'In my experiences, officers living in patrol neighborhoods works if there is a general respect for authority. In neighborhoods where this respect is absent, the officer’s presence (and, in turn, that of his/her family) is seen and acted towards as a threat. In the few cases where officers have ventured to live within their jurisdiction, even fewer have done so with children and less while children attended the public schools. (Note: Rochester PD has offered ownership incentives to officers to do this.) In theory, the idea is sound… in practice, impractical. I lived in my patrol area for the first five years of marriage but moved out at first arrival of offspring'.

Hope that helps and firsthand knowledge,

davidbfpo

David, the issue here is not "respect for authority." The cops can't even enter the favelas without being engaged, and they generally go in pretty heavy (armored vehicles, automatic weapons). The idea of renting a room or a house would not be possible, they would be killed. Though the tourist areas are relatively safe, even the police stations there are more like FOBs.

These places are totally off the grid and totally independent from the state. These tactics might not be new everywhere, but they are new here. I suspect that part of that is because it would not have been possible before. A few years ago they had coordinated attacks on bus and police stations, 115 people died in 5 days. I'd say the ability to do this showshow much the city has improved, congrats to the Brazilians for that.

On the article, keep in mind that it's from the NYT and thus meant for mass-consumption. This may not be true textbook COIN, but the "big blue arrow" parallels to the US pushing off the FOBs and engaging the populace are a close enough illustration for the casual reader, the NYT could have done worse, and has.

By the way, sorry Bill wasn't discounting the article, I was trying to address a couple posts.