Rio de Janeiro state governor Cláudio Castro appointed delegate Marcus Vinícius Amim Fernandes as Rio de Janeiro’s new Civil Police Secretary, apparently, after pressure of state deputies. Delegate José Renato Torres do Nascimento, appointed to this position less than a month ago, was dismissed.
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Change in the Law
On Wednesday (18/10), the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio approved the project that amended article 16 of Complementary Law 204, the Organic Law of the Civil Police. The change, proposed by the State Government the day before, allows delegates with less than 15 years in the role to take command of the Civil Police Secretariat.
Who is Marcus Amim
Born in Niterói, Marcus Amim graduated in Law in 2003 from Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). He has been with the Civil Police for more than 20 years, having also held, among other functions, the position of chief delegate of the Specialized Weapons, Ammunition and Explosives Police Station. He was also head delegate of the 27th Department of Police (Vicente de Carvalho). Furthermore, he has been a Civil Police delegate for 10 years but has been with the institution since 2002. Since June he has been president of Detran.
Controversial Speeches
The delegate shares part of his work and, as a commentator, his thoughts on the security policy of the State of Rio on his social networks. Some speeches are considered controversial. On 21 September he posted an excerpt from an interview where he said: “The police do kill. (…) Criminals who shoot at the police must be killed. They must be neutralized. The law says that the Constitution says that the Bible, whatever you want to rely on.”
Government Demoralization
After the announcement that the governor of Rio, Cláudio Castro, had proposed to the Legislative Assembly (Alerj) the vote on a complementary law to change the organic law of the Civil Police, the former national secretary of Security, retired PM colonel José Vicente da Silva, pointed out fragility in the relationship between government and institution. According to him, the action — which took place less than a month after the last secretary took office — demoralizes the government itself. The change in legislation opened space for the appointment of delegate Marcus Amim, who replaced the former secretary, José Renato Torres. Furthermore, this weakens the governor’s relationship with Alerj.
Analysis:
This change, which can also extend to the Military Police command and the Penitentiary Administration Secretariat, is quite damaging to the planning of public policies in the area, as well as suggesting that, in strategic departments, decisions can be taken without technical criteria. The assessment is that this external influence on government actions has increased because, since 2019, there is no longer a Public Security Secretariat in the state structure that is responsible for the integrated planning of initiatives. Another point is that José Renato Torres, the recently dismissed secretary of the Civil Police, fell because he resisted dividing the secretariat among deputies who support the governor. The change in the law to allow Amim to be in the position exposed the boldness of the deputies and the political fragility of the governor, who is unable to afford the choice of a direct assistant. Without command, Rio suffers a new wave of violence. Traffickers and militiamen dispute territories, factions display heavy weapons in the open. Corruption also appears to spread within the security forces. A recent example was the arrest of Civil Policemen, on 19 October, for escorting a truck with 16 tons of marijuana.
