Sympathy for the Devil - São Paulo

Yesterday morning I was trying to catch up with all the exciting events in São Paulo that I had missed by being in the US last week. And of course, Folha de São Paulo is my first and favorite source. Top of the front page was dedicated to more bad news about Petrobras and corruption, plus a giant photo of Ituano players beating Santos in the state futebol championships. Who is Itauno? No clue, but one of their players is named "Esquerdinha" or "little left". Hmmm, either he is a member of the Partida de Trabalhadores (PT) or the socialists or something on his left side is little. Never mind.

Below the fold, we got a photo of a singer at Lollapalooza Interlagos, la de da, and the Ukraine. But what's this official looking box at the bottom? It is an Open Letter to the Population. That's me. Let's read.

The Association of Police Investigators (Civil or Investigative Police) of São Paulo state would like to state the following (more or less, okay? This is my rapid-fire translation).

1. Only 40% of the minimum necessary number of police investigators are "active" to investigate (huh? Are the rest on vacation? Read on).
2. The majority of these active investigators are taking care of police stations rather than investigating (you know, I heard this from the Military Police as well. They actually have to clean their own police station). 
3. The investigators are detailing crime reports because they have the "Fé Pública" or public faith (I am lost on this one--isn't that their job?)
4. Absurd operations like "operação flanelinha" or the dudes that want a buck to watch your car (see blog post on this here), and operations to prevent mass crime should be the province of the military police (note that they are saying the operations are absurd, so might as well hand them off).
5. Long shifts
6. They've lost their will to investigate
7. They've lost self-esteem and professional motivation
8. Low salaries
9. Police stations that are falling apart.

And then the coup de grace--the association of investigators congratulates the Civil Police of São Paulo because they are "Real Heroes".  And it's signed by Vanderlei Bailoni, the president of said association.

Wow, I have never seen this before. It would be like the police union of  Connecticut (my home state) writing a letter on page one of the oops, no state newspaper--let's go with the Hartford Courant--saying that in spite of the terrible conditions, our police men are heroes. And so they are. 

All irony aside, you know I am sympathetic to the police here. I have the luxury of not having been here during the military dictatorship and seeing what bad stuff happened. What I do see today (though I have better knowledge of the military police than the civil) is that these guys are undertrained, underpaid, overworked and very much underappreciated. Maybe I'll write a letter.

Porta-malas and guarda-people - São Paulo

Folha de São Paulo, Cotidiano, 4 November 2013

Call yourselves fortunate this morning because I am so flabbergasted by the Conseg (neighborhood security association) meeting last night that I cannot even post on it yet. Too much good stuff, it boggles the mind. For instance, it turns out my little neighborhood association of 250 houses  just funded the local police station to take a shooting practice course this past weekend. What? Yes, the neighborhood funded target shooting. Weird.

Anyway, peripherally, I am going to talk about the police (but very carefully now that I know they are expert marksmen). I was reading the paper yesterday morning when I noticed this photo in the upper right corner of the metro section. It is of a white-crime suspect (not a minor one either: "detouring" US$250 million in public funds into his pocket) being loaded into the trunk of a police SUV. Not the back seat, the trunk.

This is the second time I have seen this phenomenon of suspect in the trunk (sorry, "boot" for my Brit readers). The first time I saw it, there seemed to be a reason for putting the suspect in the trunk. While at a Palmeiras game a couple of months ago, my teen stepdaughter and I watched as a very drunk man was dumped out of the back of a police vehicle at the holding cell at the bottom of the toboggan seating section (don't ask). Literally dumped on the ground with 10 policemen standing around watching. I figured he was in the trunk because he was either feisty or prone to puking.

So, of course I have to seek the counsel of the BH*. Why don't suspects get to sit in the back seat? Is it normal to tote people around in the trunk? Yes, as it turns out. Because the police vehicle is the ROTA. Ready for the acronym explanation? Ronda Ostensivas Tobias de Aguiar...ROTA. They are, according to wikipedia, "used in the need to control civil unrest,  restoration of public order, tactical attack and defense of urban areas." It's special forces, folks. They are the bad ****** (whoo, that's a lot of stars but BH insists I stop swearing) of the police force. And what about this Tobias de Aguiar? Lemme see...why, he is the founder of the Military Police in 1831 when they were still known as the Imperial Guard. Cool. 

Here is a fully staffed ROTA vehicle:

Choque= Shock. Pronounced "Shocky" which makes it sound cute, but it's not. Photo credit: www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br

So, you can see that there are four police men in the car, one of them plainsclothes, but all of them armed and pretty crabby-looking. No room for bad guys in the car--only in the trunk. The trunk is known as a "porta-malas" in Portuguese, or "where to carry your suitcases". Perhaps it should be known as a "guarda-povo", or "where to put your people" if you drive a ROTA SUV. They are nice SUVs and more roomy since 2011 when they changed out Chevy Blazers for Toyota Hiluxes (I think these are Forerunners in the US?). I have no personal knowledge of the roominess.

Double checking the suspect cells in the back. Photo credit: www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br

And while I was looking around for info on ROTA, I also found this, a picture of their battalion headquarters (I have to say "battalion" just sounds so much more impressive than police station in the US--military stuff is cool). Nice place. Just don't want to visit it in the trunk.

ROTA Battalion headquarters. Photo credit: wikipedia

In my head, I start hearing the theme for COPS...Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?...but if you've ever seen these guys on the way to an "event", you will start singing it too. Usually all four windows rolled down, black berets on, killer glares in place, large automatic weapons on show. If that's not deterrence, I don't know what is.


*BH=Brazilian husband 

Misplaced Sympathy? Police Forces- São Paulo

Okay, before getting distracted by a brain-damaged seal yesterday, I was originally going to post about this story "Metade das escolas forma policial em até seis meses" ("Half of schools graduate police officers in under six months"). Basically the story, as written by the highly reliable and objective Folha de São Paulo (sorry, does my sarcasm show?) is that there is an undue hurry to get police officers out on the street. Instead of a comprehensive community-oriented classwork, there seems to be a churning out of grey-uniformed officers ready only for the most obvious situations, and given only outlines of conflict resolution and mediation.

Now if you've seen Cops, that fine American tv program, you would think that conflict resolution was about 80% of a US police officer's job. You know, so-and-so doesn't want to move out of the trailer but his wife has thrown everything out the window including his television and maybe his dog. So, the negotiations begin. I get the feeling here in Brazil that there is not much negotiation: just haul off whoever to the station. If, as a friend points out, the police show up at all.

As many of you know, I have a natural sympathy towards the police. I grew up in towns where police officers were effective, were community members who contributed to the community well-being, and folks who you could always approach if you needed help. We knew many by name. I would also point out that the reverse is not true: not many knew MY name because I was a good girl. Really.

When I moved to São Paulo, big city or not, my natural instinct was to trust the police, unless given a reason otherwise.  And so far, I do not have a reason to do otherwise. After 8 years living here (between two postings), I still can't shake my trust and respect of the police. I have had nothing but neutral to good interactions. Okay, some of them, like the toner incident, are just plain ridiculous. The instinct to trust is not, though, the natural inclination of most Brazilians. And lest we all forget, this country is less than 30 years away from a military dictatorship where many REALLY BAD things happened at the hands of the police. I get it. Well, no, I don't. I don't think you can understand that kind of fear and uncertainty until you have lived it.

This Folha column seems to provide more reason for sympathy for the currently undertrained men and women of the police forces--folks who have nothing to do with Brazil's military past. Studies have proven that six months is just too short a time to get good officers who are focused on the important issues of daily police work. Imagine: in six months time, they are handing these trainees guns, pointing them in the direction of a car,  and putting them on the front lines against experienced criminals. Instead of conflict resolution classes, and how to handle protests, they are learning about the law. Which is good, but one should not replace the other.

The police force in Brazil is one of the most underpaid in the world. A starting-out military policeman in São Paulo makes R$26,000 (US$10,000) per year. A starting police officer in New York City makes US$41,000 per year. In London, US$33,000. And the Brits don't even have to carry guns! Yes, cost of living differences, etc. I know.  

It seems clear that the police force in Brazil is undertrained and underprepared. What this means for the World Cup and the Olympics; well, that's anyone's guess. But my expectation is not a pretty one. I still lean towards sympathy to this underpaid group. One of the moments that my sympathy felt strongest was when a military policeman here explained to me that crimes that result in penalties under four years (theft, for one) mean that the perpetrator is out on the street the very next day. There is simply no room left in the prisons for petty thieves. Imagine that you have chased someone for hours on a Thursday, and he waves hi to you from a bar on Friday. And we wonder why police men are frustrated.

By the way, I also read in a second article in the paper that there are actually eight different police forces in Brazil. Ready for the list? Federal, Guarda Municipal, Civil, Rodoviária, Portuária, Legislativa, Militar and Cientifica. 

Now in English: 
1. Federal (crimes against the government, white collar crime, drug trafficking investigations, also the guys that check every last item I bring into the country. As wikipedia says: "The Federal Police is the Brazilian equivalent of the American FBI, DEA, ATF, TSA, USBP, INS and Secret Service all rolled into one." They are busy.)
2. Municipal Guard (security forces of the cities/towns, protect municipal treasures such as buildings, parks and sculptures),
3. Civil (the state investigation and detectives group)
4. Highway (seems obvious), 
5. Legislative (no clue), 
6. Military (the chase and apprehend guys) 
7. Scientific (no clue--CSI São Paulo? Forensics? Seem to be part of the Civil Police. Maybe.)

And I'm not even going to touch on the really scary dudes like the Tropa de Choque (shock forces). Think SWAT. Think getting out of the way fast. That's a whole lot of weaponry.

Security in São Paulo - A Partnership with Born Again Brazilian

Starting this week, Born Again Brazilian and Brazil in My Eyes are going to take a closer look at security and how to protect yourself from "unwanted attention." Follow along!

São Paulo is not for the faint of heart in terms of security issues. If visiting a safe big city is on your list, you might want to skip over to some of the European or American metro areas. On a recent visit, Anthony Bourdain, acid-tongued celebrity chef, said “Try to have a friend in Sao Paulo before you come here. I don’t know how you’re going to do that…You want someone looking after you here. If you’re at the mercy of a concierge, you’re in a bad place.”

Since most of us visitors and residents do not have the luxury of a concierge (although we would really seriously like one now), we can provide much advice about protecting yourself, your family and your stuff. This is not tourism advice—please see Insider Guide: Best of São Paulo for some of the best places to see around town.

Over the past year we have attended a number of security presentations, and befriended a military police captain and attended neighborhood security committee meetings. We have had visitors robbed on buses and experienced the frustration of trying to report the crime at the local police. This information is based on these learnings, and is not comprehensive nor is it going to keep you out of all possible criminal situations. The idea is to make you, the visitor or resident of São Paulo or other locations in Brazil, safer and less likely to have a bad experience.

The fact is that there are people for whom robbing and stealing are the only choices they believe they have to survive in Brazil. We don’t have enough time or space to go through the hopelessness and poverty of some of these people’s lives. Lack of access to education and libraries and public health are all factors.

For these criminals, theft is their job. Full-time, every day. As expert as you get in avoiding crime, you have to remember that these folks spend every waking moment figuring out how to get money. They live it. But here’s the good news: the vast majority of the bad guys want your money or your stuff (as a way to get money) for drugs. They do not want YOU as a person. They do not want your kids. They don’t want to hurt you. They want money. Most of the crimes against individuals are crimes of the moment—they haven’t targeted you because you are blonde, or speaking English or carrying Hilfiger, or your husband works for a major European company. They are targeting you because you are distracted looking on your ipad, chatting on your cell phone, driving with your purse on the front seat, or leaving a bank, where there is some kind of probability that you are withdrawing large sums of money.

Starting this week, we are starting a series of posts about personal security and what you can do to be safe here in Brazil. Some of the advice is even pertinent to traveling anywhere outside your home country.

We are going to split up the posts into the following major subject headings:

1. Street smarts
2. Car smarts
3. School smarts
4. Home smarts
5. Security in specific places–foreigners
   1. Soccer games
   2. Shopping centers
   3. Feiras
   4. Rodoviaria/airport
   5. Parking
   6. Restaurants –arrastoes
6. Cool and scary stuff (tattoos, stats)
7. Kid smarts
8. Internet smarts
9. Elsewhere in Brazil, and other information

Ten years ago, São Paulo was the fourth most violent city in Brazil. As of April this year, it was the second LEAST violent city (source: Policia Militar). There are many cities of the northeast and coast that are more dangerous, and the reasons for this will come in our summary.

This is important information. If you are moving to, visiting or have family or friends visiting the country, please pass on these tips. We both are married to Brazilians and we want everyone to have a wonderful and safe sojourn in Brazil. Next post, we’ll take a look at street smarts.

Until then…. stay safe.

An exercise in futility - CONSEG - São Paulo

Cartoon credit: www.marcbilgrey.com

I was going to write about beer today. I have lots to say about beer. But something happened between yesterday and today and that was another CONSEG meeting. Some of you may remember my first CONSEG meeting back in June which was, frankly, a silly affair of passing the baton to the new board. You can read it here: Yes We Can! Neighborhood Security.  I missed the July meeting since I was in the USA. I was pretty excited to go to this meeting because between June and now, this city was rocked by protests about everything from bus fares to violence. We should have lots to talk about.

Stepping back a bit, maybe you have forgotten what a CONSEG is. Why would you remember? Because you re-read my blogs all the time, right? Okay, from the Conseg site, this is the definition of the CONSEG's mission: "CONSEGs are groups of people from the same neighborhood or district who meet to talk about, analyze, plan and follow-through on community security issues, develop educational campaigns and strengthen bonds of understanding and cooperation between various local leaders." Community security meets neighborhood watch.

And here is what actually happened. 20 or so people showed up in the audience. Of these 20 people, I recognized at least 15 from the last meeting. So, there is longevity in attendance. Serious longevity. Of the 20 people, 90% were over the age of 60. And of the 20 people, 90% liked to hear their own voices. They mostly had no respect for the vice president's calls for order. But I am jumping ahead.

The long table on the stage at the front of the room was taken up by the president of the Conseg, a representative of CET (traffic cops) and SPTrans (ummm, traffic too? Let me look it up. Ah, here it is: the public transport system guys), a representative of the submayor (the sub-submayor), the civil police (and he was quite polite), the military police (we got the new bam-bam-bam captain and our usual lieutenant) and the civil guard.

As always, the meeting started with standing up and applauding the Brazilian flag. This is weird.  Then the civil police talked about the events of July in a most relaxed way. Mostly our crime statistics had stayed stable, which seems unlikely but how am I to argue with men with guns? Our neighborhood's biggest problem coming out of July is the existence of the "Black Block"  (yep, he said it in English, but with a Portuguese pronunciation which made it the Blackie Blockie, and no I did not giggle though I wished to). The Black Block was blamed on Germany, by the way, though I did not catch why this is. Origins of skinheads? I don't know. These are the troublemakers who infiltrated the Passe Livre group (the group that wanted lower bus fares and went about it with peaceful marches) and just want to break things. As he says, they are just here to wreck stuff. Then he proceeded to identify the bad guys as mostly students and middle class. And that there was "pézinho" or little foot in University of São Paulo. This provoked some hissing that I assume had to do with some alumni in the audience.

So here I am thinking that we are off and running on security issues. But instead we get diverted down a road of too much noise in the neighborhood, how the civil guard is dealing with homeless and illegal businesses and then the SPTrans guy talks about the new Mobility Plan for the city. He mentions that the city is close to total breakdown since the number of people in cars is equaling the number of people in public transport which provides an answer to a fancy equation and basically we are all dead meat. I can hardly wait for the World Cup, you?

At this point, four people leave the room and go to the anteroom to discuss football loudly. And at this point (1 hour into the meeting), I have come to the following two possible conclusions about the lack of attendance and relevance of this meeting:

1. The residents of the neighborhood do not give a sh** about security. How else to explain the lack of attendance and lack of discussion?
2. The residents of the neighborhood do give a sh•• about security but realize that the CONSEG is not able to do anything or get anywhere on this subject.

I really don't understand how tens of thousands of people take to the streets in July to say "we've had enough" and not one shows up to say politely to the commanders of the military police and civil police "what are you doing and how can I help you?" Okay, late in the meeting, a Senhor Benedito, aged 70ish and pretty mad, says there was a gringo recently assaulted in the neighborhood and word is getting out that Sao Paulo is dangerous and what are we going to do? This is the forum to get in front of the security forces. Where is everyone? Is it easier to walk down a street and protest than attend a monthly meeting at 7:30 pm? Please someone explain. I am guessing I am heading to conclusion 2: people care about security but don't think that CONSEG is the place to make changes.

The military police did answer Sr. Benedito. They are doing what they can. If they know a problem, they will help. The community must do their part and give feedback through police reports (B.O.s) about the crimes. They can only concentrate their forces where they know there are many problems. Also, the parents complaining about assaults around schools should be counseling their kids not to pull out their iphone and other expensive gear and wave it around.

He also mentioned that the justice system must be refined. One of the local policewomen was held up crossing through the local park by three minors with a knife. She pulled out her gun and badge and they were all arrested. Two hours later, these minors were released minus their knife, and the three cell phones they had stolen. There was no way to hold them.

At this point, when the meeting was getting interesting and about security, the president of CONSEG interrupted and said that we would be celebrating the 453 years of the Pinheiros neighborhood on 13 August at 7:30 pm in this same building. Anyone who wants details can let me know. Then he told everyone to stand up and applaud the flag. Meeting over.

Back to beer tomorrow. Should be more fruitful.

Gallery of Heroes - or report your crimes when we have toner - São Paulo

As promised a few blogs ago, here is the story of my introduction to crime reporting in São Paulo.

Last year, a 21-year-old alumna of my alma mater came to stay with us for a couple weeks while on an 11-country tour. Debbie was studying martial arts worldwide on a Watson scholarship, and was in Brazil to study capoeira for a few months--mostly in Bahia but also two weeks in São Paulo. Debbie was very independent and in spite of not speaking the language or knowing the city, she searched the web for an intensive Portuguese class, which she found in a neighborhood about 30 minutes by bus from our house. She then found the bus line that would take her there and she was off.

On her third day of class, I received a call on my cell phone when I was in a meeting. Debbie was calling from her Portuguese class. She breathlessly said that she had been robbed on the bus. Someone had unzipped her small over-the-shoulder purse and taken her wallet with Watson ID, bus pass, cash, keys to my house, and a number of smaller items. She had not lost her cell phone. Without going into details on how the crime had taken place, she asked what she should do.

I told her to find the closest police station to report the crime. Two minutes later she called back and told me that the people in her Portuguese school (the Brazilians) told her not to bother. The reason? Reporting is pointless, according to them, the police would never catch the guy. I had a different opinion—I wanted her to report the crime so that statistics would show that the buses in a certain area were dangerous, and that (theoretically) more security would be assigned there. I told her to take a taxi back to my house and I would pay for it, and then we would go to the police station together.

When Debbie got home, she told me the whole story. She had been seated on the bus facing the "cobrador". Buses in Brazil are manned by a bus driver and the "cobrador" or money-charger who will change any bills (exact change signs as blazoned on NY buses are not here). She was wearing her small purse slung over her shoulder, and with her hand on top of it. Debbie is Chinese-American. According to her, the money-taker started making racist gestures at her such as making pulling his eyelids to make squinty eyes, and speaking to someone just out of sight on the other side of the turnstile. Debbie did not understand what they were saying. Finally, she removed her hand from her purse to gesture “me?” and to try to understand. During these moments when she was distracted from her bag, someone unzipped it, and took her documents and money. When Debbie discovered it, she immediately assumed the money-taker was involved and tried, in English, to complain or get some help. No one on the bus spoke English. No one helped her. She left the bus in tears.

Close to our house is a large park called Villa-Lobos. At the entrance to this park, down a few hundred meters, there is a Policia Militar (military police) station. I had noticed it a number of times before since it even abuts the running path through the park (though you cannot actually access it from inside the park, which seems bizarre). I said to Debbie we would try there first. We decided to take my car even though it was walkable—just in case it took a while and we ran into rodizio (rodizio is the six hour period one day a week when you cannot use your car 7-10 am, 5-8 pm). Off we went.

Police Station Villa-Lobos (from www.jureia.com.br/mostramateria.asp?idmateria=1606)

As we pulled up to the gated entrance, a military policeman comes to the car and asks “pois não?” which literally means “no?” but in this case means “yes, may I help you?”See a prior blog on this one.

Me: “We need to file a ‘boletim de occorrencia’”.  (crime report)

Guard: “Não pode.” (you can’t)

Me: “Por que não? (why not) "Aqui é delegacia?" (Isn’t this a police station?)

Guard: “Pois é." (Yes).

Me: “….?”

Guard: “Estamos sem “toner”” (We have no toner. “Toner” apparently has no translation in Portuguese)

Me: “O que?” (what?)

Guard: “Não tem como imprimir o boletim" (We can’t print the crime report).

Me: “Podemos fazer eletronico e outro dia imprimir?" (can we do the electronic bit and print the rest out later?)

Guard: “Não pode” (You can't)

While flabbergasted that I cannot file a police report because the printer is out of toner, I finally pull it together to ask if there is another station nearby that might have some toner. He shrugs and says he doesn’t know. Pois é, the police man does not know if there is another police station. He tells me to keep driving down to the traffic circle about a kilometer away and ask someone there. I hope I will ask someone who is not a bad guy.

I drive on, and Debbie and I are shaking our heads about how crime cannot be reported without toner. We get into the Praça Panamericana and I happen to glimpse a sign that I’ve seen a million times before but never read. It reads “BPM- 13 Dist. – Sede” with a directional arrow. Aha! That means the Military Police Battalian 13^th district headquarters are nearby. Hooray! We start following the signs. The signs lead us up and down and around in circles. Just when we think it is hopeless, a sign pops up pointing back in the direction from which we came. Finally, we are down a tiny side street and I ask the neighborhood security guard where the station is, and he points across the street at a tiny white house, behind a metal grade, and down some stairs.

We park. We walk to the locked gate and ring the bell. No one answers. Down in the little BPM “house” we can see two uniformed men, from the shoulders down, from our angle, walking around. Either ignoring us or not hearing the bell. So I check out the gate, and notice I can pop the lock from reaching inside the grade. So I reach inside and unlock the gate.

We walk down the steps and into the large open room. Not a single seat. Just a huge long counter and one very surprised policeman behind it. Clearly wondering how we got in.

PM: “Pois não?”

Me: “We’d like to file a police report.”

PM: “You can’t do that here.”

Me: “Why not?”

PM: “You have to go to a police station.”

Me: (looking around and then looking pointedly at his uniform)—“isn’t this a police station?”

PM: “No, this is police headquarters.”’

Me: “Oh.”

The PM suggests that we go to the military police station at Villa-Lobos. I say it is out of toner. This does not seem to surprise him. He tells me of another station further away, and I make note of it. As I turn to leave, I notice a huge empty wall with a sign at the top. It reads “Galeria dos Herois” (Gallery of Heroes). It is completely blank.

We get back in the car. It is now 4 pm and I am starting to get nervous because of rodizio. But we head over to the other police station. I note there is no free parking. I wonder how people who have their money stolen park there. Maybe they have their cars stolen too. We walk inside. At a front counter is a man typing on a laptop, no uniform. We stand in front of him. He doesn’t look up. Finally we figure out that he is just a member of the community, and not affiliated with the police. No one greets us…so I keep walking back farther into the police station. There are about 6 people waiting on broken chairs watching a fuzzy TV novella. We keep walking.

As we walk past a window (with no information or signs), a muscled plainsclothes cop pops out of nowhere, gun holstered under his arm, and blocks our way.

Detective: “What do you want?”

Me: “We need to file a police report.”

Detective: “Really? (sarcasm? Or was he trying to joke?)

I explained to him the general outline and he said that we would need to wait since there were other people in front of us. He shows us the broken chairs. There are no numbers to decide who is next. We sit. And sit. After 15 minutes, another PM comes through and asks us all what kind of crimes we are reporting. He tells one couple that they can report their occurrence on line, because it is a theft rather than a robbery. He comes to us and we tell him how the situation is, and he said we could not do it online because the items were purposefully stolen, not that someone had picked up a lost item.

We wait 20 minutes more then I ask if Debbie can talk with someone who speaks English, since I have to go because of rodizio. The detective looks at me blankly. No one speaks English. I tell the detective that we have to go. He says “come back anytime, we’re here 24 hours a day.”

We never did report the crime. Four days later I return to the original police station and ask them if they had gotten their toner yet. They said no. Note to all gringos coming for the world cup: bring toner. I’ll find out the cartridge number.

Note: a couple of months ago I met the lieutenant in charge of the Villa Lobos police station. I told him this whole story and he added some information.

1. The police man at the entrance to the station who mentioned the toner missing was actually a contracted worker not a police man. I said that did not excuse his attitude. The lieutenant agreed. 

2. All police stations should take reports verbally if they are out of toner and keep them electronically until able to print. 

3. You cannot report crimes at police headquarters. 

4. The Gallery of Heroes is for photos of men and women who died in police service. It was a blank wall not because there were no heroes, but because there were no dead heroes. I apologized to him for that one.

5. He claimed that calling "190" which is the 911 equivalent in Brazil, you can get an English-speaking attendant who can help. He volunteered for us to do that together one day from the police station and see what happened. I have yet to find time to do that.

Flying by the police - São Paulo

This news clipping is from the Folha de São Paulo and is about a crack user who is suspected of killing a college student at a party. It's from the "Cotidiano" or "Every Day" section of the São Paulo newspaper...a section my mom would call "Murder and Mayhem" much like the Metropolitan section of the NY Times used to be (and maybe still is).  Cotidiano is filled with robberies, murders, traffic jams, weather and other "every day" occurrences in the city.

In the second paragraph there is one of my favorite police-isms (sorry, give me a little grammatical license, okay?). It says that the suspect "já tem passagem pela polícia". The phrase means that the suspect already has a history with the police. He has a file. But since "passagem" is also an airline ticket, it always makes me think of the criminal 'flying by' the police station. And unfortunately, that is frequently the case. The Brazilian justice system means that anyone who has committed a crime with a penalty of fewer than four years does not even stop over in the police station. No prison. Robbery? Under 4 year penalty--out on the street. Most domestic abuse cases--under four years, out on the streets. Drug abuse? Under four years...out on the street. So to call it a "passagem" or fly-by is really quite accurate. The reason for this is mostly prison overcrowding--they save the choice long-term spots for the "serious" crimes--and yes, murder is one of them.

Yes We Can!! Neighborhood Security - São Paulo

Last night, I went to the monthly meeting of our district community security taskforce. Wow, that was a lot of words. Well, in portuguese CONSEG is the "conselho comunitário de segurança" or the community board of security. So you suffer either way. The acronym is a fun play on words because "Consegue" (pronounced the same as CONSEG) is "to be able". Or as a famous US poster says: "Yes, we can!"

I have my doubts, frankly, about CONSEG being able to do much. I was invited to the meeting last night by a good friend and amazing community volunteer, Joana. She is involved in community gardens, environment, security and quality of life in our district and I admit that I am not worthy. She is also an "adjunct director" of CONSEG or, as she says, the lowest director on the totem pole. This means she got to read the last meeting minutes--but I am jumping ahead. At the speed this meeting went...WAY ahead!

One of the reasons I was inspired to go to the meeting last night was because there was a horrific assassination of a person in front of a friend's kids' school yesterday. No, she didn't see it but the proximity was scary. The recent uptick in violence, or perceived violence, is making me a little crazy about learning all I can about protecting myself, my family and my friends. Another day I will talk about my experience meeting with a police captain about security here.

Anyway, Joana had mentioned that the meeting last night would be about swearing in the new "posse." This is one of my favorite Brazilianisms. The posse (yes, that is the Portuguese--pronounced the same as the English) is the new board for CONSEG...but President Dilma was also sworn in with her posse last year...makes it sound all wild-west, no? So I knew there was going to be a bit of bureaucracy, a bit of blah-blah, but then I thought we'd get to the part where we would talk about the spate of house invasions in our district in the last weeks.

My submayoralty (yep, that's the name "Subprefeitura"--this is why I go with district which is probably not quite correct) has 289,000 people as of 2010. I grew up in a town of 17,000 people. Folks, this place is huge! Now of these 289,000 people, about 40 residents (rounding up by 10 at least) showed up last night for the meeting. I think I would be fair in saying 80% of them were over the age of 60. The lady in the first row kept warbling "what did he say?" in spite of some rather loud microphones.

The submayor was there. Angelo is his name. I am watching my words because a blogger in Brazil just got nailed with a mega fine for defamation. There was also a representative from each of three police forces (an explanation of why we need three here will wait for another day--when I finally figure it out after 8 years of living here!)--Policia Militar, Policia Civil and Policia Guarda Metropolitana. Again, they all wear guns and I'm sure they're all very nice and effective. Elsewhere. And then the current board president and vice president were at the head of the table. Apparently the election merely reversed their job titles--the vice president became the president and vice versa. So let's get to the meeting--you've got the cast of characters.

First we stood and sang the National Anthem ("hino nacional") while facing the flags on the stage. I have given my opinion, and apologized, about the Brazilian anthem. It is a little too Portuguese for me. Did I defame anyone? Phew, I am getting nervous. Why do they always play the soundtrack to the hymn with words included? Anyway, we had to sing both stanzas (the civil police delegado checked his emails between each stanza) and that takes a while. Oh, I did not sing but I did stand. I was impressed by how many folks knew all the words. An easy anthem it is not.

Then, the exiting president got up to say a few words. She got a little emotional about apologizing for not doing everything that she wanted to do during her 6 years as president but (she said) it was because of the lack of support of the government (somewhat avoiding the eyes of the new submayor who was appointed in January). I think I like this "submayor" thing. I guess he would be a Borough President in NY. Again I digress.

After this, my friend Joana got up and read the minutes from the election so fast that I understood nothing. If she had read them all at normal speed we would have been there all night. Bottom line: out with the old, in with the new. The president and the vice president exchanged kisses and hugs and seats and then I thought...hooray!! On to our security concerns!

Not so fast. First every single person had to tell "Doutora" leaving-president how wonderful she is. I love this use of "Doutora". It doesn't mean she is a medical doctor or even holds a doctorate. It is a way of expressing great respect. I love it. Seriously. (Ed. comment: Joana has now told me that they use "doutor" or "doutora" for lawyers and former lawyers.) Then the civil police delegado presented her with a certificate of appreciation. Both the military police representative and the guarda civil police representative looked over with eyes bugging out like "why didn't I think of that????"  On and on. Okay. Time to move on to business, right?

Not so fast. Another board member got up and said it's time to hand out the new "Carteirinhas de Identidade." (Identity documents). Yes. So each person on the board was given his or her carteirinha by name calling. Not that kind of name calling. My friend Joana got one for being an Adjunct Director--it was a nice huge heavy paper card saying "CONSEG" etc. Maybe I can convince her to take a photo of it. I asked her if it got her a discount with the local stores and she said no. Okay, so at this point I was losing patience.

A couple of announcements were made about upcoming meetings. Then we all stood and clapped at the Brazilian flag. Meeting over. Whaaaat? Yep, monthly meeting over. I do not believe the actual words of security or crime or "what is going on?" actually crossed anyone's lips. Well, except for Joana telling me that one of the two police battalions that cares for our almost 300,000 residents was quietly disbanded a few weeks ago. More crime, fewer cops. Huh? Shouldn't we discuss?

No. It's time for Guarana and "metro" (subway) sandwiches. I admit that I used my time after the meeting to have a chat with the comandante of the Policia Militar that has its administrative offices four blocks away. I took him to task about a lack of toner, but that is a story for another day. And I just want to mention here, in case I disappear, he asked for my home address. YIKES!

I will go to August's meeting but will have to skip July as I flee the country. I can hardly wait--maybe we can discuss some security concerns next time!

This year's CONSEG board. Man with the beard in the back is Submayor Angelo. Doutor Angelo.