“Bad with it, worse without it”: The will for continuity of the UPPs (pacifying police units) beyond the Olympics

Abstract

This article uses the literature on community policing projects and logistic regression models to identify which variables explain the wish for the UPPs (pacifying police units) continuity after the Olympics. Analysis of a household and probabilistic survey carried out with 2,000 residents was conducted. In the first round, the survey was applied to 10 favelas that received UPPs in the initial phase of the program’s implementation and, in the next round, in another 10 favelas when the “pacification” process already indicated signs of crisis. The results indicate that young black and pardo individuals present a high degree of rejection to this mode of policing and that the police’s ability to rebuild the legitimacy of their actions in the communities causes individuals to endorse the continuity of UPPs, and the Olympic city project.