Tackling criminal organizations is a colossal challenge, says expert

Promoting the fight against criminal organizations is a “colossal challenge”, in the assessment of former national secretary of public security José Vicente da Silva Filho.

On Monday, the National Program to Combat Criminal Organizations was launched by Minister Flávio Dino.

Among the announcements was the sending of the National Force to Rio de Janeiro, which is suffering a public security crisis, and the provision of R$20 million to Bahia, a state that is experiencing a wave of violence.

A CNN Radio the retired colonel of the São Paulo Military Police stated that, now, the federal government is signaling the creation of a national intelligence operations center.

The expert considers this an opportune, although challenging, path.

“It is necessary to start again now and obtain, together with the states and coordination of the Federal Police, the identification of the faction leaders, the territories they occupy, how they receive criminal inputs, such as drugs and weapons”, he listed.

For the colonel, “doing an x-ray within the factions is a big challenge”, but it is necessary to know them to then implement actions.

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Even so, he does not believe that the biggest bottleneck in Brazilian public security is organized crime.

“Motorcycle robbers, widespread theft, cell phone theft, which is the most stolen object today, have little or nothing to do with factions,” he said.

These “everyday” crimes, for José Vicente, are those that most afflict the population and have “a lot to do with the inefficiency of the country’s police structures”.

*Produced by Isabel Campos