Argentina's government reportedly sent a representative to Rio de Janeiro to take a tour of the new community policing model implemented in some of the most lawless areas of the Brazilian city.
O Globo reports that an Argentine security representative spent October 19 touring Cidade de Deus, a favela in western Rio de Janeiro. Cidade de Deus was one of the first neighborhoods to receive a Pacifying Police Unit (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora - UPP), in the government's ongoing program to send community policing units into areas previously controlled by drug traffickers and violent militias.
The visit is one of the clearest signals yet that Argentina may be interested in implementing a similar community policing program in the slums of Buenos Aires, Brazilian authorities said.
Brazil's public security secretary recently spoke of ambitious plans to expand the UPPs across Rio, but did not explicitly mention plans to expand the policy to other parts of Brazil. Some officials from other states have already demanded a UPP-like program in their district capitals.
SUBSCRIBE