Public security spending in Brazil insufficient, expert says

Brazil spent $23.7 billion on public security in 2015, a 11.6% increase from the previous year, according to the 10th edition of the Annual Report of Public Security published by the Brazilian Forum on Public Security (FBSP). However, this amount is still insufficient, and the country lacks policies that can provide satisfactory results for combating violence, according to the Forum's Executive Director Samira Bueno.

“Of course the resources we have today are not enough to cover all of the sector's needs. Violent crime is soaring, police is still very low-paid on average, especially at the front end, namely common officers, clerks, investigators,” she told Agência Brasil.

“But just putting in more money would not be enough to solve the problem of violence and crime in Brazil. This would have to be combined with government policy, a plan that also focused on pragmatic goals and closer cooperation between the federal, state, and local levels,” Samira said.

Annual data shows that São Paulo was the state that most spent on public security in 2015—$3.5 billion, 8.4% up from the previous year. This amount was 24.6% higher than federal expenditure on public security ($2.8 billion). In 2014, federal spending was $2.7 billion.

Municipalities

Municipalities spent $1.3 billion on public security in 2015.

The report went on to reveal that municipalities have played an important role in public security. Between 1998 and 2015, municipal spending on public security increased 394%, adjusted for inflation. This growth has been reported in cities of all population sizes, but it was greater in those with populations ranging between 100,001 and 500,000.

Bueno said that the different roles of the federal, state, and local governments regarding funding for public security are not clearly established. “We realize this sector is completely uncoordinated in Brazil,” he said, citing difficulties for carrying out projects at the federal level, among other challenges, and the key role municipalities have taken in allocating resources for the area.

“In the federal government, if you look at it from a historical perspective from the 90's onwards, you find that planning is completely dysfunctional, with each administration focusing investiment on a different area, and that [investment] does not necessarily translate into results. They are not looking into how this money has been spent on the federal level, policies are constantly shifting, the funds that should be providing money to states and municipalities, including the National Public Security Fund and the National Prisons' Fund, have shrunk,” Samira pointed out.

On the other hand, the FBSP director noted that “municipalities are no longer necessarily relying on federal funds for their security policies. More than ever, they have begun to realize that they need to spend on, and invest in, this area because crime is a territorial phenomenon that necessarily demands local action.”

The problem, she says, is that this investment is dealt with in an uncoordinated manner. “If it's not coordinated, each municipality takes a different approach that's in line with the priorities of the ruling party,” she went on.

Federal government

The Ministry of Justice spent $3.5 billion in 2015, 9.6% less than in the previous year. According to the FBSP report, while the amount may seem significant, most of it went into overhead costs. Expenditure on Federal Police totaled $1.7 billion in 2015, accounting for 50% of the entire budget of the Ministry of Justice. Federal Highway Police spent $1 billion, 31% of the budget, according to the FBSP.

On the other hand, the funds that provide resources for public security and could drive policy making were very low compared to the total budget.

Despite the large spending in states like São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, Samira noted that the responsibility of investing in policy making lies with the federal government, since most of the states' resources for public security are spent on payroll.

According to her, the scenario gets all the more critical as these funds wane and the prospect of the government approving an austerity bill becomes more likely. “At a time of austerity when the minimum spending levels for two areas—education and health—is already mandated by the constitution, the other sectors certainly will face further cuts, and public security is one of them,” she said.

Rape

According to the report, more than five people are raped per hour in Brazil. In 2015, 45,460 rape cases were reported. Although that figure shrank 9.9% from the previous year (down by 4,978 cases), the FBSP notes that it does not necessarily mean that rape has really occurred less often in Brazil, because the cases are underreported.

“Rape is the world's most underreported crime, so it's difficult to tell whether the rape rate has really gone down in Brazil,” said Samira Bueno.

The FBSP estimates that there must have been between 129,900 and 454,600 cases of rape in Brazil in 2015. The lower figure in the range was based on international studies including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which found that only 35% of the rape victims usually report it. The larger number was based on a report published by Brazil's Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), according to which only 10% of rape cases in Brazil become known by the police.

“Victimization surveys produced in Brazil and the world indicate that the victim's main reasons for not reporting the crime to police are fear of retaliation and a perception that police could do little or wouldn't put effort into it,” Bueno said.

Translated by Mayra Borges