Public Security Amendment: Lula pledges to confront organized crime.

In an interview with Radio Itatiaia of Belo Horizonte, on August 29, 2025, President Lula commented that the approval of the Proposed Constitutional Amendment on Public Security (PEC 18/2025), presented by his government, is urgent. This amendment calls upon the Union to assume responsibility for confronting organized crime, private militias, and environmental crimes, which state governments have proven incapable of combating.

The recent police operation conducted by the Federal Police against the PCC and its roots in the financial system proved the reality of President Lula's concern, mainly because the previous government systematically worked to prevent the Public Authorities from intervening in the economic order, paving the way for organized crime and militias to expand their operations and operate freely in various economic activities.

Hence the responsibility of the previous government in the expansion of organized crime, pointed out by President Lula, who stated that the investigations could reach the former president, not because he is directly linked to criminal factions, but because during his government he established mechanisms of non-oversight and non-intervention by the Public Authorities and promoted the dismantling of the State apparatus, as in the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service and IBAMA; generated the absence of oversight regarding slave labor; turned a blind eye to illegal mining in indigenous territories; ignored drug trafficking in the Amazon, etc.

Based on the wording of the aforementioned proposed constitutional amendment, I believe the proposal presented for the revision of public security in Brazil is timely and necessary, with the main objective of combating organized crime, which controls drug trafficking and operates in an increasingly significant way through "private militias," mainly because the police forces of the states and the Federal District have not yet demonstrated efficiency in this type of repression and investigation, partly because they are very close to these organizations.

In the judgment of Direct Action of Unconstitutionality number 7.047, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) decided that "the law is a reflection of the time in which it was enacted, and in constitutional matters, the text set forth in the fundamental law, both original and in the context of revision, stems from the spirit of the time in which it was produced."

It is in this context that the proposed constitutional revision needs to be accepted, since the fundamental right of society to security has not been guaranteed by the Public Authorities to this day, especially in the States and the Federal District. Therefore, insecurity is one of the most serious social problems in the country and has repercussions on the current democratic order, as it directly influences the exercise of citizenship and the right to vote, considering the enormous pressure that organized crime exerts on voters in choosing their representatives for parliament or government, requiring a more effective role for the Public Prosecutor's Office in combating organized crime in the electoral process.

The proposed public security reform maintains the powers and responsibilities of the States and the Federal District, which are reinforced by the actions of the Union (as coordinator of the unified public security system, responsible for investigating organized crime and "private militias") and the Municipalities (acting in "visible and community policing"), under the external control of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

I consider it pertinent to recall that, in the constituent process of 1891, the great victory of the oligarchies of the colonels was the introduction of the federation in Brazil, when the states (and no longer the central power, as it was in the Empire) gained the prerogative of land demarcation and control of police power.

Since then, public security has become the responsibility of the states of the federation, which control the judicial police (civil police) and uniformed police (military police), employed to preserve public order and the safety of people and property; subsequently, the 1988 Constitution expanded local powers and elevated municipalities to the status of federated entities, which then had the power to create municipal guards for the preservation of public equipment and the regulation of local activities (for example, commerce and traffic).

In its role regarding public security, the Federal Government relies on the Federal Police (the judicial police force that investigates crimes against property of its interest) and the Federal Highway Police and Federal Railway Police, respectively responsible for patrolling the country's highways and railways. In other words, the Federal Government does not exercise any effective control over public security in the country, as each federative entity is responsible for its own security forces.

However, in reality, the President of the Republic is burdened with political responsibility for all the ills of public security in the country, which, constitutionally, is not his prerogative. In fact, even state governments do not have effective control over their police forces, which operate as independent and impenetrable bodies. It is not uncommon for their agents in many federated states to be linked to criminal organizations that operate parallel to the official power, charging for private security and controlling urban territories, along with drug trafficking. The proposed constitutional amendment presented by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, without altering the power of local governments over their police forces, proposes national coordination of public security by the Union, in order to establish a unified policy, similar to what already occurs in the area of ​​health with the SUS (Unified Health System).

According to the proposal, the Federal Police, in addition to its current constitutional duties, will also be responsible for acting against environmental crimes and combating criminal organizations (mafias, militias, drug cartels) that control, in some way, the structures of local political power. Therefore, in light of the revelations stemming from "Operation Hidden Carbon," launched by the Federal Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo, which investigated the activities of organized crime in the financial market and other commercial activities, the approval of the Public Security Constitutional Amendment, submitted to the Chamber of Deputies by President Lula's government, is urgent. This amendment already received, on July 15, 2025, approval of its admissibility from the Constitution and Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.