Private police bring order in Brazil

[WordWhiz]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070429/ap_o...F6bYN5g9mADW7oF

Presented without comment, but with some choice quotes:

"It's the state that establishes law and order, not the militia," said Sergio Cabral, governor of Rio de Janeiro state. "We won't accept this under any conditions."

In this city of 6 million people, one of the world's most violent, "the police provide security for the rich" and "the militias are the security of the poor," said Marina Maggessi, a congresswoman and a former senior drug-control official. She has mixed feelings about the militias, saying they represent the "collapse of the state."

Like many slum community leaders, he refuses to acknowledge the existence of the militias, saying the cleanup is entirely the work of the police, even though there is no station in the slum, and not a single officer or patrol car was seen during two recent visits.

[mmbt0ne]

Good for them. I would be interested to see how they handle some of the situations that are commonly discussed here like free-riders and cooperation between competing militias dealing with handing suspects over to each other.

Also, I'm impressed that a place with such little capital was able to scrape together the funds for a private security force.

[latefordinner]

The situation is much more complex than that, and in milita-controlled favelas there is the same sort of authoritarian control that you would expect from an informal ruling body of men-with-large-guns. I don't have the time to write a whole response at the moment, but here are some decent links. Also, legalize it, duh.

http://cbrayton.wordpress.com/2007/0...state-failure/

cliffnotes: militias in the favelas are much closer to a "state=by=any-other name"/mafia protection model than a private security/defense firm model

[BCPVP]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I'm impressed that a place with such little capital was able to scrape together the funds for a private security force.

[/ QUOTE ]
From the article:
"There are no official estimates of how much money the militias make, but residents of one slum told the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper that families pay $7-$14 per month. That adds up quickly in the steep hillsides where tens of thousands of families live."

I wonder what the average poor in the region make a month. I suppose that even if $7-$14 is a large chunk, they receive quite a bit more if the area can grow because there's less violence.

Good find, OP!

[latefordinner]

They also make tons of money on real estate speculation

[WillMagic]

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They also make tons of money on real estate speculation

[/ QUOTE ]

Who cares? They transformed property that had no value into property that had value by virtue of their own effort. Good for them.

[Phil153]

I agree, good for them. But all they're doing is running people out of one neighborhood and into neighboring ones, where they meet less resistance. It'd be interesting to see how effective this would be if the militias tried to control a whole region.

One of the benefits of militias is that they're not encumbered by things like laws - they can just start shooting, or go into a suspected drug dealer's home when they feel like it, without needing a warrant. There is a credible and unpredictable threat of deadly force. They can also intimidate suspected criminals into leaving. Solves a large number of problems that can make policing less effective - at the expense of individual liberty. But it's a good solution and definitely the lesser of two evils for an unpoliced slum.

[BCPVP]

WaPo Article

[ QUOTE ]
The Rio das Pedras militia, one of the oldest in the city, was formed in the late 1980s when neighbors banded together to kick out a group of local drug dealers. As the militia evolved, off-duty and retired police officers began taking over its leadership positions. Some residents say that today the militia helps to fill the gap left by the government's inattention to the neighborhood's social needs. For example, its leaders appoint independent mediators to sort out legal disputes among residents who lack ready access to the country's legal system, they said.

[/ QUOTE ]
Interesting...

Of course, as with many things, there's another side to the story that's not as nice...
[ QUOTE ]
A scan of the daily newspapers seems to back up that finding. Last week, for example, local newspapers reported that militia members in the favela of Vargem Grande were suspected of killing a real estate agent there. The killing was believed to have been connected to the militia's effort to control land sales in the neighborhood, according to the reports.

[/ QUOTE ]