Operation Lei Seca completed 13 years today (17) investing in technology to improve its inspection actions. “For this reason, we will create the Lei Seca Volante. With this intelligence work, we are going to fight the application that identifies the location of blitzes. The idea is to quickly change location, if necessary. Our intention is not in any way to punish the citizen, but to save lives”. The statement was made by the Secretary of Government, Rodrigo Bacellar, during a ceremony commemorating the 13th anniversary of Operation Lei Seca, in Cinelândia, central Rio de Janeiro.
On the occasion, Governor Cláudio Castro announced the expansion of the program, which will increase from 15 to 30 teams and from 261 to 347 agents, including military police and civil agents. The operation will have six more vans and eight new motorcycles in its fleet.
A novelty that has reinforced the operation of Operação Lei Seca in recent months is the use of portable cameras (bodycams), recently acquired by the Rio de Janeiro government. Currently, 96 equipment of this type are used in the blitzes to give more transparency and credibility to the actions.
Cláudio Castro pointed out that the main purpose of Operação Lei Seca “is to act in an educational and preventive manner to encourage people not to drink alcohol while driving. It is an action that saves lives. Another important point is the fact that the Military Police (PM) are on the streets, which certainly helps in public safety”, said the governor.
Swing
During the 13 years of Operation Lei Seca, more than 3 million drivers were approached in approximately 28,000 roadblocks carried out across the state. The program took more than 200,000 drunk drivers off the streets. A survey of the Traffic Dossier, carried out by the Public Security Institute (ISP) comparing the same periods of the years 2019 and 2021, revealed a 40% reduction in the number of fatal and non-fatal victims in traffic accidents in the state.
The operation also carried out almost 20 thousand awareness-raising actions in the streets, events, bars and restaurants, in addition to lectures at schools, universities and companies across the state. The education team includes people with disabilities (PCDs), victims of traffic accidents caused by mixing alcohol and driving. They work by raising awareness among drivers and reinforcing the Operation’s message: “Never drive after drinking”.
The Prohibition Superintendent, Lieutenant Colonel PM Fábio Pinho, highlighted that with more personnel and an increase in the fleet, the program will be able to operate in more locations and save even more lives. “We have achieved many logistical, technological and personnel advances. And the results are there, with research control instruments that prove it. Operation Lei Seca is a public policy focused on saving lives, carrying out traffic prevention and improving the road quality of the citizens of Rio de Janeiro”, declared Pinho.
