Victimization among Civil Police Officers in São Paulo, Brazil

• In Event: Policing and Critical Incidents and Crises

Abstract

In Brazil, the task of investigating and solving crimes is carried out by its own independent police force, the Civil Police. In comparison to international standards, victimization among Brazilian police officers is quite high, with regard to homicides, both on and off duty, as well as suicides. This phenomenon has sparked interest in better understanding victimization among these professionals. Based on information on external and internal victimization produced in a survey carried out for 1,605 civil police officers in 2024, we analyzed how exposure to victimization experiences impacts these professionals and the risks they pose to their mental health. Our results demonstrate that more than a third of the respondents have affirmed that they lost a colleague to suicide or homicide in the last twelve months, confirming the hypothesis that these agents frequently deal with the death of their peers. We also found high percentages of both internal and external victimization, with external victimization being higher than internal, suggesting that despite having less contact with the public compared to the ostensive police, this source of victimization is still more significant than that related to interaction with peers and superiors.

Authors

• Fernanda Novaes Cruz, University of São Paulo

• Renato Alves, University of São Paulo

• Marcos Cesar Alvarez, University of São Paulo