The dilemmas of pacification: News of War and Peace in the ‘Marvelous City’

Abstract

This article is a reflection on police work carried out in Rio de Janeiro favelas,1 from the viewpoint of someone who works in the field as a police manager in an effort to present the risks, opportunities, mistakes and achievements of the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs), within the process of ‘pacification’ currently underway in Rio de Janeiro. The empirical data, based on observations recorded by the author during his time as coordinator of the UPPs,2 serves as a counterpoint to academic research produced on the subject.