The proposal by the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, to create a Municipal Security Force, using weapons, to be a part of the Municipal Guard, is unconstitutional. The conclusion is from the president of the Association of Municipal Guards of Brazil (AGM BRASIL), Reinaldo Monteiro. As he explained, city governments do not have the constitutional responsibility to deploy any other security force, other than the Municipal Guards.
“This idea from the mayor of Rio de Janeiro has no constitutional legal support, because according to the Federal Constitution, the only security force that the mayor of Rio de Janeiro or anywhere else can create is the Municipal Guard. There is no other forecast and the Municipal Guard already exists in Rio de Janeiro”, he told Brazil Agency.
For the president, the creation of a new force is not necessary, since the legislation already provides for the use of weapons by the Municipal Guards.
“The Municipal Guards are now fully regulated to function fully. We have the Federal Constitution, article 144, paragraph 8, which was regulated by law 13,022, which is the General Statute of the Guards, of 2014. This law [assinada pela presidente Dilma Rousseff] disciplined and standardized all Municipal Guards, uniform color, skills, duties, principles, career plans, all set out in the General Statute of the Guards. Furthermore, in 2018 we had SUSP law 13675, which regulated the functioning of public security bodies, where the Guards are foreseen as operational public security bodies. Everything necessary for the perfect functioning of the Guards already exists”, he detailed.
On the day of his inauguration (1st), Eduardo Paes announced the formation of a study group to implement the Municipal Force. The issue of Rio’s Security was a central issue during the 2024 electoral campaign and although he stated during the period that it was up to the state to take action to combat crime, the candidate for re-election defended the need for joint work between the state and the municipality in the tackling one of the biggest problems highlighted by the population of Rio.
“All Municipal Guards can now use firearms. It is provided for in the Disarmament Statute. What happens in Rio de Janeiro is that the Municipal Guard to this day is not structured to comply with federal laws. Look at the absurdity. We are in 2025 and Mayor Eduardo Paes has not yet made the necessary adjustments and restructuring for the municipal guard to be included in the General Guards Statute and the Susp law. [Sistema Único de Segurança Pública]”, he criticized.
Monteiro also highlighted that Rio de Janeiro’s organic law created the unarmed Municipal Guard, but this could not be taken into account in light of a federal law that determines a different situation. “Municipal law does not regulate the use of military material, because this is the responsibility of the National Congress. This has already been regulated in the Disarmament Statute, so Rio de Janeiro’s organic law is unconstitutional”, he pointed out, adding that the mayor should, indeed, propose changes to the organic law in order to adapt it to federal laws.
Reinaldo Monteiro president of AGM BRASIL. Photo Personal Archive –
“If he had done so and the Rio Chamber did not accept it, he would have had to go to court against the organic law to question its constitutionality and adapt the Municipal Guard. It is very bad when a mayor of a capital, with a municipal guard of seven thousand men, does not comply with the basics already provided for in the legislation and the Federal Constitution”, he commented, remembering that the supervision of the functioning of the Guards is the responsibility of the Federal Police.
“The mayor buys the weapons, trains, trains, but the Federal Police are the ones who supervise. In addition to the Federal Police, the Municipal Guards are supervised by local public ministries, which are responsible for external control of the Municipal Guards. This is provided for both in the Federal Constitution and in resolution 279 of the National Council of the Public Ministry”, he concluded.
The anthropologist, public security specialist and veteran captain of the Special Operations Battalion (Bope), of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro, Paulo Storani, said that he was surprised by Mayor Eduardo Paes’ proposal and reinforced that there is already legislation in force that allows the use of weapons by the Municipal Guard.
“It was unknown. If there is already a law that transforms the Municipal Guards into something similar to a municipal police, which could act within this field, obviously, integrated with the police forces of both the PM and the Civil Police, it now comes with the novelty of creating of a force not provided for by law. There would need to be new legislation for that,” he told Brazil Agency.
According to Storani, the creation of a new force will require a long period of discussions and changes in legislation, which could even exceed the time of Paes’ current term, which began on January 1st after being re-elected in 2022. “ A situation like this would take, just to discuss, at least two years. To try something in the National Congress, another two years, that is, the mayor’s term would end and he would not be able to put his idea into practice, when in fact, the legislation itself, the law that already exists, allows the Municipal Guard to be armed in this field of public security with certain restrictions. He prefers not to consider this possibility of creating a new institution”, he added, noting that Rio de Janeiro is experiencing the worst setbacks in crime indicators since it has been monitoring the public security scenario for 42 years.
Integration
In the view of the doctor and master in law from PUC-Rio, post-doctor from Columbia Law School and professor at the Faculty of Law of Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), Thiago Bottino, before having a new armed guard, the issue of public security needs to be treated in an integrated way.
“An important thing that has to be highlighted is that more than having more people, more armed guards, it is that public security is worked in an integrated way. This was very much the keynote of the municipal elections. The municipality does not have an armed guard. The Municipal Guard does not have the function of promoting security. This is the responsibility of the state government, but it is obvious that there can be integrated actions. It can have intelligence and investigation actions integrated with the Civil Police, Military Police, Federal Police and also at the municipal level. I think that more efficient than a gun in your hand is information in your head and the use of intelligence in public security policy”, he pointed out.
Monteiro highlighted that the role of the Municipal Guards is not restricted to protecting public property. It is much more than that, it is having public security policies within the municipality that will carry out proximity policing, community policing, protection and defense of women, school policing, protection and defense of the city’s environmental, architectural and cultural environment. Policies to preserve tranquility, that is, reducing disturbances to the peace, therefore, the Municipal Guard has to act in this sense”, he pointed out.
Representation
To try to prevent Paes’ proposal from going ahead and ending up approved by the Rio Chamber of Councillors, AGM BRASIL entered the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice (TJRJ) with other entities representing the Municipal Guards in the country, with a Representation of Unconstitutionality with request for precautionary measure “with the purpose of declaring unconstitutional the Municipal Decree, No. 55,584, of January 1, 2025, in Municipality of Rio de Janeiro that creates a working group aimed at establishing the Municipal Security Force of the City of Rio de Janeiro in direct violation of the provisions of article 183 of the Federal Constitution, with the authority that issued the act i. The Municipal Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Eduardo Paes”, pointed out the document.
“We made this representation to not even create it, because after it becomes law it is much more difficult. Unfortunately, within municipalities, staff do not always carry out a technical study of the proposal. It is more of a political study than a technical one and then the law ends up being unconstitutional. After it becomes law, it takes a while for this to be reversed. We are fighting to ensure that this does not prosper, so that it does not create legal uncertainty for the city of Rio de Janeiro and does not have an impact on the other Municipal Guards in the country”, he explained.
The TJRJ informed the Brazil Agencythat the process was distributed yesterday (9), to the Special Body of the Court and that judge Benedicto Abicair, “who will be the rapporteur, ordered the regularization of the procedural costs. Therefore, without any decision on the request.”
Suggestion
On another front, AGM BRASIL seeks to include in the Public Security PEC, prepared by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, a part of the text intended for Municipal Guards. The entity’s suggestion, according to Reinaldo Monteiro, will be delivered at a meeting with Minister Lewandowski next week. “We are going to propose a change in this proposal precisely to adapt the minister’s proposal to federal legislation and the decisions of the Supreme Court, because this entire update of the Municipal Guards was not observed in his proposal”, he revealed. “It’s actually updating the Federal Constitution to what already happens in the real world.”
MJSP
According to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), the MUNIC 2023 Survey indicates that of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, 1,322 have Municipal Civil Guards. The ministry reported that it plays a strategic role in coordinating the Unified Public Security System (SUSP), coordinating actions that strengthen security institutions across the country.
“In the case of the Municipal Guards, the MJSP supports the management of these institutions through initiatives that promote training, modernization of resources and professional development. Furthermore, it encourages the exchange of experiences between federative entities and encourages the adoption of good practices. This monitoring aims to ensure that the Municipal Guards act in an integrated manner with the SUSP, contributing to the safety of citizens and the protection of municipal public assets”, he said.
Rio City Hall
Until the closing of this article, Rio City Hall had not sent a position requested by Agência Brasil, regarding the criticisms made to the proposal to create the Municipal Security Force, armed for the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
