Tomaz Oliveira Paoliello; Priscila Villela
Rev. Carta Inter., Belo Horizonte, v. 20, n. 1, e1520, 2025
1-24
The Transnational Circulation
of Community Policing:
the Neighborhood Watch Experience
in São Paulo
1
A Circulação Transnacional do
Policiamento Comunitário: a Experiência
do Programa Vizinhança Solidária
em São Paulo
La circulación transnacional de la
Policía Comunitaria: la experiencia de
vigilancia vecinal en São Paulo
DOI: 10.21530/ci.v20n1.2025.1520
Tomaz Oliveira Paoliello
2
Priscila Villela
3
Abstract
This paper investigates the transnational circulation of community
policing models by reconstructing the genealogy of the
Neighborhood Solidarity Program in São Paulo. Drawing on
policy diffusion and genealogical approaches, it identifies how
ideas, vocabularies, and institutional practices associated with
community policing have traveled across borders and emerged in
São Paulo’s security landscape. Based on documentary analysis
1 This research was funded by the PUC-SP Research Incentive Plan (PIPEQ).
2 Doutor em Relações Internacionais. Coordenador do Mestrado Profissional
em Governança Global e Formulação de Políticas Internacionais da Pontifícia
Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). (topaoliello@pucsp.br).
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1217-4273.
3 Doutora em Relações Internacionais. Professora de Relações Internacionais na
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). (pvillela@pucsp.br).
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2432-8900.
Artigo submetido em 23/08/2024 e aprovado em 11/04/2025.
ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE
RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS
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ISSN 2526-9038
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and interviews, it reveals how international influences are often obscured by claims of local
authorship. It concludes that by tracing the multi-directional flows of policy circulation,
the NSP can be understood as a pivotal node within broader networks of transnational
security governance.
Keywords: Community Policing; Neighborhood Watch; Policy Diffusion; Transnational;
Security Governance.
Resumo
Este artigo investiga a circulação transnacional de modelos de policiamento comunitário,
reconstruindo a genealogia do Programa Vizinhança Solidária em São Paulo. Com base
em abordagens genealógicas e de difusão de políticas, identifica como ideias, vocabulários
e práticas institucionais associadas ao policiamento comunitário atravessaram fronteiras
e emergiram no cenário de segurança de São Paulo. Com base em análise documental e
entrevistas, revela como as influências internacionais são frequentemente invisibilizadas por
alegações de autoria local. Conclui que, ao traçar os fluxos multidirecionais da circulação
de políticas, o programa pode ser compreendido como um ponto nodal em redes de
governança transnacional da segurança.
Palavras-chave: Policiamento Comunitário; Vizinhança Solidária; Difusão de Políticas;
Transnacional; Governança de Segurança.
Resumen
Este artículo investiga la circulación transnacional de modelos de policía comunitaria,
reconstruyendo la genealogía del Programa Barrio Solidario en São Paulo. Basándose en
enfoques genealógicos y de difusión de políticas, identifica cómo las ideas, los vocabularios
y las prácticas institucionales asociadas con la policía comunitaria cruzaron fronteras y
surgieron en el panorama de seguridad de São Paulo. A partir del análisis documental y
entrevistas, revela cómo las influencias internacionales quedan invisibilizadas tras las
reivindicaciones de autoría local. Se concluye que, al rastrear los flujos multidireccionales
de circulación de políticas, el programa puede entenderse como un punto nodal en las
redes de gobernanza de seguridad transnacional.
Palabras clave: Policía Comunitaria; Barrio Solidario; Difusión de Políticas; Transnacional;
Gobernanza de la seguridad.
Tomaz Oliveira Paoliello; Priscila Villela
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Introduction
The city of São Paulo is undergoing significant changes in its security
governance, marked by new community actors and networks involving public
and private stakeholders across different social sectors. In this context, the
Neighborhood Solidarity Program4 (NSP), implemented by the Military Police
of the State of São Paulo (PMSP) in 2010, stands out as a local initiative that
closely mirrors Neighborhood Watch programs, one of the core components of
the broader community policing paradigm. Regarding conceptual foundations,
aesthetic elements, and general structure, the NSP reflects this model, which has
a long-standing tradition in the United States and is well established in countries
such as the United Kingdom and Canada. Although this type of experience is
relatively new to São Paulo, it has generated a set of continuities, adaptations,
and innovations that are now influencing other cities in the Global South.
While the Neighborhood Solidarity Program (NSP) clearly draws on
international models, the routes through which these influences arrived in Brazil
remain opaque. This lack of clarity presents methodological challenges, as the
diffusion process has been informal, non-linear, and frequently unacknowledged
by its protagonists. In early interviews with key policymakers behind the NSP,
most respondents portrayed it as a domestic innovation. Despite the evident
similarities between the São Paulo initiative and other community policing
programs worldwide, these actors neither recognized nor appeared willing to
disclose any external inspiration. This apparent contradiction suggests that the
NSP emerged from a complex assemblage of national and international elements.
What makes this case particularly significant is the subtle way in which global
interests and normative frameworks are absorbed and reinterpreted as local
creativity, revealing a sophisticated configuration of international power. We
argue that the circulation of community policing models over the past two to
three decades has profoundly shaped São Paulo’s security policy landscape,
even if this influence did not take the form of a direct or formal transfer. This
complexity motivates our inquiry into how transnational expertise in community
policing has been rearticulated and operationalized in the São Paulo context.
At the same time, the São Paulo case reveals a degree of local experimentalism,
suggesting that the military police exercised partial autonomy in adapting and
reconfiguring international references. This locally driven innovation, however,
4 Translated from the original name in Portuguese ‘Programa Vizinhança Solidária’.
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does not occur in isolation. As the NSP gained visibility, it began circulating
beyond São Paulo, influencing community policing initiatives in other cities in
Brazil and Latin America. Actors often perceive these South-South exchanges as
more horizontal and collaborative, which further obscures the underlying power
asymmetries embedded in global policy diffusion. We argue that this dynamic
reinforces the apparent invisibility of international influence while positioning São
Paulo and the state’s military police as a pivotal node in a broader transnational
network. The city thus operates simultaneously as a recipient and a diffuser of
community policing models, functioning as both a landing and take-off point
within the global circulation of security governance practices.
This paper seeks to explore the diffusion of ideas related to community
policing in Brazil over the past decades, with particular attention to how they
shaped the development of the NSP. To do so, we propose a four-phase analytical
model: (1) the influence of international experiences, (2) local experiments, (3)
translation and institutional adherence, and (4) international diffusion, which
allows us to trace the program’s transnational and domestic trajectory.
The community policing paradigm has gained significant global traction
over the past three decades, garnering support across government institutions,
civil society, and the media. A substantial body of literature has analyzed this
trend (e.g., Brogden and Nijhar 2005; Malone and Dammert 2020; Frühling 2007;
Dias Felix and Hilgers 2020), offering both reformist perspectives that portray
community policing as a response to the limitations of traditional models (e.g.,
Goldstein 1990; Bailey 2001; Muggah 2016), and critical approaches that question
its global diffusion and normative appeal as a one-size-fits-all solution (e.g.,
Ellison and Pino 2012; Brogden and Nijhar 2013).
In the Brazilian context, a growing number of scholars have examined
community policing initiatives, often focusing on the contradictions between their
reformist discourse and the persistence of violent, hierarchical police structures
(e.g., Hinton 2009; Macaulay 2012; Soares 2019; Pires and Albernaz 2022). Yet only
a limited number of studies explore the transnational trajectories through which
these models are disseminated and reconfigured within Brazil (e.g., Vilarouca
et.al. 2022; Ferreira, Rossoni, and Oliveira 2022; Peron and Alvarez 2021). This
gap reflects a broader limitation in the field: while many contributions adopt
comparative frameworks (e.g., Bailey 1994; Wisler and Onwudiwe 2009), few
investigate the genealogies, actors, and mechanisms that drive the international
circulation and localized appropriation of these policy models.
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Although many studies adopt comparative frameworks to analyze community
policing across different contexts (e.g., Bailey 1994; Wisler and Onwudiwe 2009),
few of them engage with the subject from a truly international perspective that
emphasizes how these experiences are interconnected through the global circulation
of ideas, techniques, and institutional vocabularies (e.g., Ellison and Pino 2012).
Moreover, limited attention has been paid to the actors involved in diffusion
processes and the social spaces and mechanisms through which these policies
circulate (e.g., Frühling 2007; Dias Felix and Hilgers 2020; Jones, Blaustein, and
Newburn 2021). In light of these limitations, Oliveira and Faria (2017) argue
that it is not enough to compare similarities and differences between policy
models; instead, it is crucial to trace their genealogy and transnational trajectory,
recognizing how territories become interlinked through dynamics of mutual
learning, competition, and influence. In this sense, policy diffusion should not
be understood as the mere transfer of technical solutions, but rather as a process
deeply embedded in power relations that shape political decision-making and
institutional reform (Dolowitz and Marsh 2000; Stone, Oliveira, and Pal 2020).
To address these dynamics analytically, this paper adopts the combined
frameworks of policy diffusion and genealogy. This perspective is instrumental
in identifying and interpreting the intricate mechanisms through which policies
traverse borders, become anchored in specific local contexts, and later re-emerge
as reference models for other settings (Dolowitz and Marsh 2000; Jones, Blaustein,
and Newburn 2021). By mobilizing this transnational lens, the paper seeks to
contribute to urban and community policing studies by capturing the broader
movement and adaptation of political ideas across institutional and geographic
boundaries. It emphasizes that diffusion is neither linear nor neutral, but marked
by complex, bidirectional flows that reflect both local reinterpretations and the
enduring influence of dominant global centers in defining what counts as “best
practice” (Simmons, Dobbin, and Garrett 2008; Go 2023).
A central methodological challenge lies in reconstructing the transnational
genealogy of community policing while accounting for its local adaptations and
appropriations. Rather than tracing a single point of origin for the Neighborhood
Solidarity Program (NSP), the study adopts a genealogical perspective to uncover
the historical and structural conditions that made its emergence possible (Foucault
1979). As this research suggests, the program is not the result of a linear transfer
but a complex interplay of national and international, material and ideological
influences. This approach makes it possible to uncover the underlying power
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structures and the layered, historically sedimented processes of institutional
development that are often obscured by analyses focused solely on the present.
To trace these layered influences and transnational linkages, the paper draws
on a heterogeneous set of empirical materials, combining official documents
produced by the Military Police of São Paulo with unstructured interviews
conducted with key officers involved in formulating and promoting the NSP. Three
stakeholders — a lieutenant colonel, a major, and a captain — were selected to
provide insight into the program’s conception and institutional dissemination,
rather than its street-level implementation. This focus reflects an analytical concern
with how narratives and discourses around community policing are produced
and circulated by decision-makers, particularly those engaged in international
exchanges through events, training programs, and cooperation networks (Ellison,
Pino 2012).
Although these officers act as internal spokespersons for the NSP and have
actively contributed to its diffusion nationally and abroad, they rarely acknowledge
the international influences that helped shape the program. This silence requires
a methodological strategy based on inference and triangulation to link broader
transnational processes with individual trajectories and institutional developments.
To complement the interviews and reveal dimensions that remain implicit in the
actors’ accounts, the analysis also incorporates documents from international
organizations and NGOs, including training materials, project reports, and manuals,
which circulate globally and promote best practices in community policing. These
sources reinforce the paper’s central argument and expose the tension between
external influence and local authorship, offering a more nuanced understanding of
the NSP’s genealogy and its role in the transnational field of security governance.
The paper comprises two main sections. The first begins by briefly presenting
the local contours of the NSP, detailing its programmatic content, territorial scope,
target populations, and implementation strategies. In its core, this section provides
a genealogical reconstruction of the international experiences that influenced the
NSP emergence, situating São Paulo within broader transnational policy flows.
The second section analyzes the subsequent diffusion of the NSP model to other
national and international contexts, emphasizing the role of key actors and
mechanisms in promoting the program as an example of best practice. Finally,
the conclusion reflects on the paper’s contributions and suggests directions for
future research on the transnational dynamics of community policing.
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The genealogy of international experiences in São Paulo’s
community policing initiatives
The Vizinhança Solidária (Solidarity Neighborhood) program, implemented
by the Military Police of São Paulo (PMSP), focuses on improving public security
through the active participation of residents in cooperation with law enforcement.
The program was initially conceived to meet the demands of specific segments
of society, particularly in middle-class residential neighborhoods and commercial
districts. The program operates through virtual groups — primarily hosted on
platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp — that bring together residents from
a specific neighborhood and at least one representative from the local police
battalion. These groups serve as a communication tool, allowing neighbors and
the police to exchange security-related information. Residents are encouraged
to report suspicious activities, share updates on local crime trends, and discuss
safety practices. The police use these platforms to provide essential information
about crime prevention strategies, emergency procedures, and community safety
initiatives. Officers also serve as guides, offering advice and instructions on how
the community can reduce crime and improve overall neighborhood safety.
Initially, the program found success in dense middle-class neighborhoods
especially in apartment buildings, where condominium associations were already
in place, and in commercial districts where shopkeepers coordinated efforts to
ensure the safety of local businesses. Over time, the program has expanded,
adapting to various urban environments and fostering a sense of collective
responsibility for maintaining security.
As NSP has garnered attention, the program encompasses small towns and
the peripheral neighborhoods of large cities. In some places, residents have
taken the initiative to organize themselves and approach the PMSP, while in
others, the police have proactively fostered groups and identified community
leaders. Communities with organized NSP groups often display signs and banners
akin to American neighborhood watch initiatives, signaling the presence of
community surveillance. Although this is not a comparative study, our research
problem emerged from the program’s emblems, which emulate other international
experiences. The sources highlight that the program has instituted mechanisms
to heighten citizen awareness of risks and contribute to improving the public’s
perception of the police. Finally, a police major also pointed out that the NSP
establishes channels for the police to generate information and intelligence.
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The PMSP has pioneered the implementation of community policing
experiences in Brazil. This process results from influences from international
cooperation projects and authorial experiences developed by specific leaders.
A central point to this paper is tensioning the stakeholder’s claims that the
program is native from São Paulo. Community policing formulation, particularly
the NSP, can be interpreted by locals in terms of a bottom-up movement, while
in fact also being the result of top-down international hierarchical relations.
To characterize Phase 1, the influence of international experiences, it is
important to define the moment before the NSP was implemented in 2010. This
is a central part of a genealogical effort, as it situates the disputes between
concurring policing paradigms as well as the intricate transnational streams of
policing models.
The community policing paradigm emerged in the 1960s in the United
States amid a growing mistrust between the police and urban communities,
which stimulated discussions about the need for more collaborative approaches
to fighting crime (Manning and Mahendra1997). As Greene (2000, 301) states,
community policing has become the “national mantra of American police.” As
such, this idea has been incorporated into international police assistance and
training programs, making the United States the most influential diffuser of this
model, particularly in Latin America (Skogan, Hartnett 1997). Since this is the
case, this paper focuses mainly on the United States’ role in this policy circulation.
However, despite the term’s origins in the United States, the community policing
paradigm has also been adopted and adapted in other territories, which have
developed their own experiences and, over time, become international references
and diffusers of the model, such as the United Kingdom, Japan or Canada (Wolff
2019). These adaptations often reframed the paradigm to suit local contexts
while aligning with its core principles. Specifically, the United States, Canada
and Japan, have been mentioned as stakeholders by this paper’s sources.
The definition of community policing is not precise since its meaning has
become elastic over time. A comprehensive characterization recognized by
the literature describes this policy model as “full-service personalized policing
where the same officer patrols and works in the same area permanently from a
decentralized place, working in a proactive partnership with citizens to identify
and solve problems” (Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux 1990, 3). The policy aims
to decentralize administration, enhance organizational responsiveness, engage
community safety projects, and adopt a problem-solving orientation. The
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community defines local priorities through multiple forms of representation,
legitimizing the police’s role in resolving issues (Dias Felix and Hilgers 2020).
Over the past three decades, the community policing paradigm has garnered
global recognition as a panacea for critical police issues (Ellison and Pino 2012).
Many actors, including government agencies, multilateral organizations, private
corporations, and NGOs, have supported its global diffusion as a “best solution,”
offering training, assistance, and incentives (Soares 2019). It is often defined as
a “philosophy” resulting in various local interpretations (e.g., Bureau of Justice
Assistance 2005; PMSP 2016). Among these is the Neighborhood Watch model,
which involves residents actively cooperating with law enforcement and each
other to enhance community safety by monitoring, reporting suspicious activities,
and taking preventative measures (Skogan and Hartnett 1997; Bennett, Holloway
and Farrington 2008).
As has been the case since its local origin, community policing lived side
by side with its counterpart model, focused on the proliferation of rhetoric and
practices associated with wars on crime, drugs, and terrorism, accompanied
by broader trends of militarization, police brutality, and mass incarceration
(Wacquant 2009). Both models have been the object of transnational diffusion.
The United States emerged as a dual reference point, serving both as a model
for zero-tolerance policing and as a promoter of community policing strategies.
Over the course of two decades, American law enforcement agencies provided
specialized training and facilitated exchange programs, fostering the transfer
of knowledge, tactics, and operational frameworks between U.S. and Brazilian
police forces (USA 2010–2017). That highlights the coexistence and tension
between prevention-oriented reforms and repressive measures within global
policing paradigms.
Specifically, regarding community policing, the United States has played
a singular role in shaping police reform in Latin America, actively leading the
development of training programs and organizing global conferences for law
enforcement officials to influence international reforms and security agendas
(Ellison, Pino 2012). Local police forces in the region have undergone significant
transformations through targeted American assistance and training programs.
Community policing has been a central focus of U.S. police training initiatives in
Brazil since the early 2000s (US Department of State 2000-1017). This transnational
influence is channeled both through state and non-state institutions, as well as
multilateral donors.
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USAID has been a strategic part of these efforts. Its publications map successful
replicable experiences in partner countries and promote the emulation and learning
of effective practices through detailed descriptions (Secretaria de Governacion de
Mexico and US Aid 2015; Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos 2013). Their
aim is to press on other nations to adopt similar models and foster a competitive
environment. This mechanism aligns with research findings, as a military police
captain reported that engagement with the NSP has led to career advancements,
including promotions and opportunities to become instructors nationally and
internationally. Among them, the publications “Policía Comunitaria: conceptos,
métodos y escenarios de aplicación” (Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humano
2013) and “Manual de capacitación de policía comunitaria y metodología para
solución de problemas” (Secretaria de Governacion de Mexico and US Aid 2015)
stand out.
Similarly, significant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations
have presented theoretical concepts and operational actions. Important
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations replicate this practice,
as evidenced by the instances of “Tackling Urban Violence in Latin America:
Reversing Exclusion through Smart Policing and Social Investment” (Wola 2011),
“What Can be Learned from Brazil’s ‘Pacification’ Police Model?” (Wola 2016),
“Making Cities Safer: Citizen Security Innovations from Latin America” (Muggah
et al. 2016), “A Polícia que Dá Certo: Experiências Vencedoras do Prêmio Polícia
Cidadã” (Sou da Paz, 2019), “Relatório sobre Segurança Cidadã e Direitos Humanos”
(OEA 2009), “Handbook on the Crime Prevention Guidelines: Making Them Work”
(UN 2010), and “Policing Urban Spaces” (UN 2011). Many of these publications
map Brazilian experiences (e.g., Programa para la Convivencia Ciudadana 2002,
Muggah et al. 2016; UN 2010), selecting key milestones, most relevant cases,
and successful experiences, consolidating a strong and globally disseminated
discourse about Brazil.
Multilateral donors, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American
Development Bank5, have also supported international initiatives to promote
community policing in Latin America, often making such reforms a condition
for foreign aid (Murphy 2007). These actors position the region as a key area
for exporting policing standards from developed countries (Brogden and Nijhar
2005). The São Paulo case exemplifies the broader Latin American experience,
5 One prominent example of community policing funded by BID is the Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora (UPP)
in Rio de Janeiro, launched in 2008 (O Globo, 2012).
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where economic incentives are linked to police reform, creating a dynamic of
coercion and competition among nations for development opportunities and
international recognition (Carrión 2007).
Despite the considerable financial investments associated with the diffusion
of community policing concepts, scant attention has been paid to systematically
assessing their outcomes and efficacy (Ellison and Pino 2012). As per Brogden
(2002), it is also crucial to recognize that the diffusion process within the
community policing paradigm is not impartial. Donors from developed countries
exhibit a pronounced affinity for community policing solutions, driven by the
assumption that Western countries’ development path is the correct paradigm.
Proponents for this approach argue that adopting Western models engenders
stability, enhances security, and contributes to establishing favorable social
orders. It should be noted that this dynamic is characterized by a significant
asymmetry of power between donors and recipients.
Local conditions contribute to a nuanced reinterpretation of community policing
by integrating knowledge, institutional history, actor characteristics, constituent
processes, and context-specific challenges. These translated experiences often
evolve into newly successful acclaimed models, which are recurrently re-diffused
transnationally. This intricate process involves a three-part sequence: (1) global
diffusion and circulation, (2) local translation and adaptation, and (3) rediffusion
and global circulation6, as outlined by Dias Felix and Hilgers (2020). The concept
of translation means acknowledging that a policy is not merely replicated from
one location to another; instead, it undergoes a process of appropriation and
modification — and, in some instances, even distortion — by local formulators
and implementing agents (Oliveira 2021). Across Latin America, a complex
interplay exists between adopting tough on crime approaches and implementing
community policing, both influenced by Western donors. The region grapples
with a historical legacy marked by a repressive approach and instances of police
brutality. This dynamic is evident in the coexistence of sporadic community
policing initiatives with entrenched, hierarchically structured, and militarized
police forces operating within an authoritarian public security paradigm, notably
in countries like Brazil.
6 Thus, this process reveals a growing trend of South-South cooperation among community policing experiences
in Latin America. Brazil has learned from some of these experiences and has become a key diffuser, as the
NSP exemplifies. However, it is essential to recognize that this notion of South-South cooperation often masks
the underlying hierarchies and power dynamics that continue to shape the flow of knowledge and practices.
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Although the whole process of incorporating community policing to São Paulo
does not have a clear starting point, as it is usual in a genealogical process, police
officers indicate that the change in policing mentality in the State of São Paulo
dates to the return to democracy after the military dictatorship. In particular,
police officers directly involved in formulating the NSP identify the Community
Security Councils (CONSEGs) creation in 1985 by the state’s first democratically
elected government as the impetus for bringing police and communities closer
together — a development internationally recognized as a significant advancement
in citizen security (Wola 2013).
CONSEGs are municipal or regional councils (in the case of large
municipalities) that bring civil and military police together with civil society
representatives to discuss and monitor security policies. In their monthly meetings,
the regional PMSP commander and the chief police officer receive complaints
and suggestions from local representatives. They also use this space to instruct
the residents about primary prevention, which targets factors that induce crime.
Through CONSEGs, police officers identified society’s demands for projects to
bring policing closer to communities, such as the NSP.
It is important to emphasize that the demands for police reform are not only
international, but also the result of demands from local civil society. Violent
police incidents domestically and internationally spurred civil society demands
for police reform aligned with community policing principles. Deteriorating
police-community relations and stigmatization led to support for reform within
police organizations, aiming to restore legitimacy based on new democratic
foundations (FBSP 2021).
Alleged successful experiences learned and translated in Latin America also
circulated within the region, experiencing similar contexts and challenges. Caparroz
(2019) indicates that the Community Police Units of Ecuador’s national police
(PNE) informed the creation of the NSP in the city of Santo André (São Paulo).
According to Pontón (2017), the reformulation of the PNE under the Rafael Correa
administration incorporated guidelines for implementing community policing. In
turn, the Ecuadorian police reform was based on practices adopted by Colombia’s
national police, which, during this period, received large amounts of international
funds for investment in policing, particularly within Plan Colombia, influenced
by American experiences and police assistance programs, as well as cooperation
projects with Japan, for example (Caparroz 2019). This complex transnational
trail shows how the United States’ influence in the process tends to disappear
as soon as the circulation apparently becomes Latin-American.
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The PMSP states that their first community policing initiatives were inspired
by the Canadian model in the 1990s (PMSP 2016). In this case, heterogeneous
diffusion actors were involved, including civil society organizations, universities,
and the police. Based on an initiative by the São Paulo Institute against Violence
(ISPCV), a civil society organization, PMSP acquired teaching materials and
documentaries that shared experiences from Canadian cities. The PMSP Director
of Education, Nilton Divino D’addio, stated that “this [Canadian] video will be
used to instruct and train our police officers” (FSP 1998). In the same period, an
agreement was established between the University of São Paulo’s Center for the
Study of Violence (NEV) and the University of Ottawa’s Center for Education and
Research in Human Rights (HRREC) to study both police forces and exchange
knowledge and techniques on policing, in addition to fostering dialogue and
support for public authorities in São Paulo (NEV 1998).
PMSP also cites Japan as a relevant reference in community policing. In
2005, a partnership was formed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) to promote the dissemination, learning, and translation of the Japanese
model to the Brazilian reality. The Community Police Project encompassed training
opportunities in Japan and Brazil for multipliers, those police officers who received
scholarships and were responsible for disseminating the knowledge acquired
internally in their forces (JICA 2008). The organization of seminars and training
is typically an interesting and low-cost strategy through which the diffusing
actors create an environment for police officers from different parts of the world
to socialize and promote the dissemination of a wide range of knowledge.7
As we have seen, the conditions for the emergence of a policy such as the
NSP take place over a long period of time, as a result of multiple influences.
At no time did the interviewees refer to most of the documents discussed. On
the contrary, as previously stated, local stakeholders interpret the process as
a native innovation. This process of concealment is a strategic tool of power,
which will be strengthened as Brazilian experiences become, in turn, elements
of international dissemination. In the next stage, the experiences of the USA,
Canada or Japan will no longer appear, but rather models adapted to the Latin
American reality.
7 Although the Koban policing model is often cited by the sources, it represents a different kind of proximity
policing program. The model is based on small urban police stations, which are used for both patrol and
preventive action. In São Paulo, the program was adapted to use mobile bases, police vans that serve the
same purpose, but with the ability to relocate, relying mainly on intelligence work, such as georeferencing
of criminal occurrences (JICA 2010)
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Consolidating NSP — São Paulo as an intermediary point in
community policing circulation
In face of the long process priorly described, Phase 2, which we call local
experiments, emerges as the development itself of the NSP. The program was
created in 2010 and implemented for the first time by the Metropolitan Area
Six Police Command in the southeastern part of Greater São Paulo, particularly
in the Jardim Bom Pastor neighborhood of Santo André. Captain Temístocles
Telmo Ferreira Araújo formulated the program to bring the police closer to
residents and businesspeople in certain regions (which varied from street blocks,
parts of neighborhoods, entire neighborhoods, to even whole municipalities in
smaller cities).
At first, after meetings at the Santo André CONSEG, community representatives
demanded greater community involvement in crime-fighting. From there, the
regional police command mapped the streets and regions with the highest crime
rates, and the program was first implemented among the region’s store owners.
The NSP arose from two important influences that explain the transformation
in local policing. First, there was the impact of hot spot policing logic and
georeferencing in policing. Despite not being the focus of this paper, we would like
to note the importance of researching how this practice, including the technological
material accompanying its installation, was incorporated into local policing (Peron
and Alvarez 2021). Secondly, and of central importance to this study, the research
shows the influences of what is conventionally called community policing in
Latin America, including concepts of the American Neighborhood Watch models,
European proximity policing, and components of the Japanese Koban model,
which were already established through cooperation with the PMSP (Ribeiro,
Oliveira and Diniz 2016). This experiment reflects a certain degree of autonomy
of the military police regional commanders in formulating experimental projects,
with some degree of authorship. Although there are general police guidelines
for community policing, there is no specific definition of how these initiatives
should be conducted in each battalion. We infer from the collected reports that
the influences and values of each of the commanders have an important impact
on operationalizing the concepts of community policing.
A notable dispute over project authorship arose when police forces adopted
community policing programs. This research exemplifies this when the leading
police officers assert innovation without acknowledging its evident transnational
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influence, even though international experiences have been circulating in Brazil
for decades. Both the major and the lieutenant colonel consulted for this research
could mention international influence but were categorical in stressing the
program’s innovation. Conversely, the captain highlights its innovative potential
for international diffusion, a dimension that enhances the recognition and prestige
of their work and that of their team. The unclear origins of the policy remain,
with its often-contested authorship adding further complexity to its proper
assimilation within the Brazilian context.
Police officers, politicians, and specialists in Brazilian security recurrently
stress the complications characteristic of the Brazilian urban context compared
to the conditions in most developed countries. According to Colonel Carlos
Alberto de Camargo (PMSP),
Concerning projects already implemented in other countries, such as
Canadian, American, and English cities, it was clear at that moment that
they referred to models that sought a good relationship between the police
and the community in places without major social problems and where
any project could hardly go wrong. This became clear in 1998 during the
International Congress on Community Policing in The Hague. At the time,
police chiefs from cities around the world where projects had already been
implemented were astonished when they became aware of the conditions
in Brazil that the population of their towns was many times smaller than
the number of unemployed people in the City of São Paulo (Camargo
2015, 228).
Ellen Pontes Silva de Freitas, a first lieutenant of the Military Police in Acre,
who participated in the Japanese community policing international program,
shared similar thoughts. To her,
[I]t was perceptible that a differentiating factor in Japan regarding the
community’s approximation in relation to Brazil is that the Brazilian
population is wary of cooperation with the police in the wake of the
military dictatorship, and people often see the police force as being more
concerned with promoting violence to maintain order than protecting the
rights of its citizens (JICA 2010, 1).
Both quotes state challenges and obstacles to the learning, translating,
and institutionalization processes regarding international models in circulation.
On the other hand, it shows how local police officers stress Brazil’s peculiar
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conditions as an innovation driver. As noted, these processes are non-linear
but are instead marked by advances and setbacks in various national and local
contexts over the years. Despite these controversies, this model has prevailed
among international donors, including Brazil, who have kept diffusing and
stimulating its adoption worldwide for decades. Community policing can be
elastic, vague, locally adaptable, and operationalized politically. In this paper, we
are not addressing community policing’s results or effectiveness but rather how
its very idea is still a rubric under which policing reforms are globally diffused
and locally implemented as a successful premise.
Phase 3 is called institutional adherence since it describes the process of
transposing an experimental model focused on a specific region and dependent
on the will of a particular commander to incorporate the NSP model by the PMSP.
The process does not occur at once and involves expanding the neighborhoods
served by the program based on the demand of residents and other users and
training new NSP commands to implement community networks.
According to the sources, the approval of state Law 16,771/2018, which
finally regulates the functioning of the NSP, is the apex of this process. The long
time between the program’s beginnings in 2010 and its consolidation into law
in a 2017 bill is noticeable. Colonel Camilo, then-State Representative from the
Social Democratic Party (PSD), proposed the bill. Colonel Camilo had previously
been General Commander of the PMSP, appointed by Governor José Serra in
2009, serving until 2012, when he ran for Councilman of the City of São Paulo.
His transition to politics coincides with the dissemination of the project on an
urban and later state scale.8
Currently, the program consists of various manifestations in cities throughout
the state’s countryside and in the capital’s metropolitan region, divided into 22
regional military police commands covering 284 of the 645 municipalities in the
state (Telmo 2022). According to police estimates, the program has reduced crime
in the cities where it has been implemented from 60% to 90% (Estadão 2020).
Although the numbers are uncertain, and there is no determination of the real
impact of the project on these indices, they are crucial to the police’s discourse
of success. The interviewed police officers repeatedly stressed the initiative’s
importance in reducing crime. Adherence to the program is voluntary and relies
8 As of this paper’s latest revision (2025), a change in the governing party at São Paulo state shows that political
disputes are a central part of the disputes between different policing paradigms. Further research could clarify
this aspect as we witness the rise of a new police group in power.
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on requests from organized neighborhood groups or resident associations. The
most common way of approaching the police is through the local CONSEG or
police force. Therefore, campaigns to mobilize the public have also been part
of the model’s dissemination strategy within the state.
Institutional adherence is a critical inflection point for the diffusion process,
as it is related to three key points for transforming the experimental model into
a policing best practice. The first point is the institution’s recognition of the
program’s success, which is related to an impulse of political will since it depends
on decisions made by those in charge of security governance, including the
Secretary of Security and the governor. Secondly, it releases public and private
funds as the project ceases to be an experiment to perform as a political platform
for the various bureaucratic and political actors involved. Finally, adherence
produces international visibility when recognized by civil society, including
universities, as a best practice successfully incorporated by local police forces.
Finally, we call Phase 4 international diffusion. This phase describes when
the NSP experience, created in the State of São Paulo, became a good community
policing practice and an element of international diffusion. Chronologically, this
phase does not occur after Phase 3 but rather simultaneously. That is, it did not
depend on passing the NSP law, although it has benefitted from the institutional
consolidation of the program. The national and international circulation of NSP
police officers benefits from the program’s alleged success. Paradoxically, its
international visibility was stated as one of the symptoms of this success by
our sources.
Although there is no detailed public record of the complete counseling
programs, the police officers interviewed during this study indicated that there
were trips to the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do
Sul, and Bahia to promote the program nationally. They also mentioned trips
abroad, particularly to Central American countries such as Honduras, Costa
Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The police captain also mentioned
participating in a training program in Paraguay. Our sources did not specify how
they incorporated these workshops into the foreign local police forces. Their
participation is short-lived, with no control over the results. However, according
to what we observed from the Brazilian experience in training programs that
received representatives of foreign institutions, the influence occurs by informing
new practices for extended periods, and in the case of Brazil, for decades.
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These are usually short trips since the officers involved in the international
exchanges are not entirely dedicated to training programs. So, most exchanges
occur through lectures and short-term training programs that are not profoundly
institutionalized, which makes tracing the model’s exact path challenging. This
type of exchange does not look much like international cooperation projects
involving funding and professionals dedicated full-time to mentoring.
São Paulo has also exported other community policing experiences. The
Japanese Koban assistance programs signed with São Paulo in 2008 required São
Paulo to become a “disseminating hub” of the model to other states in Brazil and
other Latin American countries. Eleven Brazilian states have incorporated the
Koban model (PMSP, 2023). All the officers interviewed in this study stressed
that there is a link between the Koban program and the NSP. This illustrates
the adaptable framework of community policing methods since a neighborhood
watch is not a central piece of Koban. On the international level, the Brazilian
government created the National Secretariat for Public Safety (SENASP) within
the Ministry of Justice and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) within the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with partnerships to diffuse the Koban model
internationally. As a result, the São Paulo police have trained at least 128 officers
from Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala (PMSP 2016).
The current moment highlights that São Paulo, mainly through its military
police, functions as an intermediary within a complex network of security
policies. The NSP program has emerged from various international influences
and experimentation on a local level. These experiences primarily originated
from knowledge generated by the Global North. However, this study’s map
also reveals a nuanced exchange of knowledge on the South-South level. Once
established, the program has become an additional component in the diverse
repertoire of security policies acknowledged as global best practices. Contrary
to the intuitive perception of being a mere landing point for policies from more
developed countries and international power centers, translated policy experiences
in São Paulo have taken flight toward new destinations.
Conclusion
We have sought to analyze the NSP as a product of a community policing
paradigm that has circulated transnationally thanks to the stimuli and efforts
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of diffusing agents. While the NSP draws from international experiences, the
specific pathways of knowledge diffusion to Brazil remain unclear. Our aim
is to identify these agents and pathways, recognizing the global circulation of
community policing over the past few decades, which has influenced policing
policies in São Paulo, even if not as a product of direct transfer. Our study has
been dedicated to understanding how the knowledge about community policing
has evolved and shaped the context that has informed the implementation of
this policy in São Paulo.
Inspired by international precedents, its formulation has been considered
successful by some key stakeholders and has led to its adoption in other cities
in the Global South. São Paulo has assumed a pivotal role as an intermediary
hub for disseminating and implementing community policing models, especially
from a South-South perspective. The state’s active engagement in networking and
sharing experiences with international counterparts has promoted the diffusion of
its community policing model. Through workshops, seminars, and partnerships
with other cities and countries, São Paulo has played a key role in promoting
the adoption of community-oriented security strategies.
Building an international genealogy of locally implemented policing programs
like the NSP is not an obvious or straightforward process. The transnational
circulation of policing models often occurs through poorly institutionalized
channels. Even when diffusion programs are formalized by signed agreements
that involve resources, local adaptation also brings innovations that do not make
them simple replicas. In addition, we have noticed that local police usually claim
authorship of successful programs, so local actors often skip any reference to
international learning. This tends to hide the traditionally more evident power
relations, which run in a north-south direction.
The malleability required for community policing to adapt to local contexts
becomes evident when comparing transnational best practice models with locally
implemented final products. This underscores the challenging nature of the
translation process as these models navigate local social and institutional structures,
which sometimes are incompatible. In Brazil’s case, community policing has
grappled with a tradition of police brutality and institutions perceived as being
rigid, hierarchical, and resistant to the paradigm’s established criteria. Despite
these challenges, Brazilian experiences have been identified as internationally
recognized models. The NSP, shaped by international influences, has generated
innovations now being exported to other countries in the Global South, particularly
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Latin America. In this regard, this São Paulo program has functioned as an
intermediate nodal point in global policy circulation and has helped spread
western oriented policy.
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