It took a while: Minas Gerais creates package against violence.
The area is one of the most criticized in the Anastasia (PSDB) administration. This year, the government has even been accused of hiding bad homicide rate numbers. The plan foresees new actions and works for public security.
Minas 247 - The Minas Gerais state government announced on Thursday a plan to address the growing violence in the state. The Integrated Plan to Combat Violence in Minas Gerais, announced by the State Secretariat of Social Defense (Seds) and the military and civil police, brings together actions, new methods, and strategic projects for the area of public safety.
Plans include the construction of a Crime Prevention Center, an Integrated Command and Control Center, and a new Forensic Science building. The projected investment is R$ 225 million.
The plan comes at a good time for Governor Antonio Anastasia (PSDB). The area of security is one of the most critical in his administration. According to the 2012 Violence Map from the Ministry of Justice, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro showed a reduction in the homicide rate between 200 and 2010, while Minas Gerais had the largest increase in the Southeast region. The State Secretariat for Public Security (Seds) itself reported that the rate of violent crimes in the state increased by 11% last year, compared to 2010.
Earlier this year, the government was accused of hiding some bad data in the area of security. An audit of the state's security figures was requested by opposition state deputies.
In March, to circumvent the crisis, Anastasia replaced the Secretary of Social Defense. State deputy Lafayette Andrada, a member of the PSDB party and with a more political profile, left, and prosecutor Rômulo de Carvalho Ferraz, with greater knowledge of the area, took over. Throughout his tenure at SEDS, Andrada was heavily criticized for the stagnation of social programs in favelas and the difficulties in the relationship between the civil and military police.
Read the article from Agência Minas about the government's package:
The State Secretariat for Social Defense (Seds), in partnership with the Military Police and the Civil Police, launched, this Thursday (17), the Integrated Plan to Combat Violence in Minas Gerais. The document brings together actions, new methods and strategic works for public security, with the aim of reducing violent crime rates in the State. For the execution of the Plan, approximately R$ 225 million will be invested.
The Plan includes several actions for institutional cooperation and integration of the work carried out by the bodies of the State's social defense system. One of them is the formalization of a cooperation agreement with the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary for the implementation of joint and permanent actions, considered a historical milestone for the Social Defense System.
This week, as a result of the start of this partnership, the Interinstitutional Committee for Monitoring and Repressing Violent Crimes was created. This committee will monitor violence daily in the state and propose strategies to repress new types of crimes, such as ATM explosions. Starting in June, integrated meetings will also be held in the 15 Integrated Public Security Regions (RISPs) located in the interior of the state, with the aim of diagnosing and defining regionalized actions to combat crime.
Among the projects planned for 2012, it is worth highlighting the creation of three new Crime Prevention Centers, which will enable the implementation of the "Fica Vivo" (Stay Alive) and Conflict Mediation programs in socially vulnerable areas of the Metropolitan Region. A groundbreaking Central Reception Center for Flagrant Offenses will also allow for a swift analysis of flagrant offense cases, preventing the unnecessary detention of people in state prisons.
Another project to begin in 2012 is the Integrated Command and Control Center (CICC), which will bring together, in one space, the Civil, Military and Federal Police, the Fire Department, the Federal Highway Police, Civil Defense and agents of the Municipal Government, consolidating intelligence work and optimizing resources. Construction of the new building for the Criminalistics Department of the Civil Police, which will integrate the Forensic Medical Institute (IML) and the Institute of Criminalistics, will also begin in 2012.
Among the program expansions, a highlight is the "I'm for Life. I Drive Sober" campaign, which will now have an Integrated Work Post to allow for the closure of traffic incident reports at the scene of the stops in Belo Horizonte. The "I'm for Life" campaign will also include daily blitzes in the capital starting in July and stops in other cities such as Juiz de Fora, Montes Claros, Governador Valadares, and Uberlândia by the end of the year.
In the prison and socio-educational sectors, the plan guarantees the creation of approximately 2.500 new spaces by the end of the year in state penitentiaries and prisons, notably with the inauguration of the first prison unit resulting from a public-private partnership in Brazil. The Associations for the Protection and Assistance of Convicts (APACs) will also gain 625 new spaces, with the construction of four new associations and the formalization of a partnership with the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais (TJMG) for the maintenance of four others. Public competitions will also be opened for the hiring of 3.410 prison officers and 390 socio-educational agents.
The Integrated Plan to Combat Violence was developed collaboratively, based on meetings with representatives of the State's Social Defense System, unions and associations of the police and the prison and socio-educational system, as well as public security experts. Over the past 50 days, these stakeholders discussed priorities with the Secretary of State for Social Defense, Rômulo Ferraz, the General Commander of the Military Police, Márcio Martins Sant'Ana, and the Chief of the Civil Police, General Delegate Cylton Brandão da Matta.
Of the total investments planned for this year, R$ 66 million will be executed through agreements signed with the National Development Bank (BNDES) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In total, the Government of Minas Gerais is raising R$ 267 million from these two financial institutions, which will be invested until 2014. The resources will be used primarily for actions integrating the police forces, in projects of the Civil Police and the Military Police, as well as in actions and programs for crime prevention.