The emergency conditions and operation of the COP system of the military police of the São Paulo

• Grant number: 19/14664-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): September 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Marcos César Alvarez
• Grantee: Wendel Lima da Silva Andrade
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07923-7 - Center of the Study of Violence - NEV/USP, AP.CEPID

Abstract

The main objective of the research is to investigate the emergency conditions and operation of the COP system - portable operational cameras - of the military police of the state of São Paulo. The COP system are cameras coupled to the uniforms of the police to record audio and video operations. This system introduces a new element in the construction of the legitimacy of the police institution before the citizens and the judiciary, since it gives a new logic to the daily relations between the police and the community, with possible effects over issues such as human rights and police violence. In addition, there are also effects on the production of legal truth, since the equipment suspends the presence / absence dualism in the work of the legal operators. Thus, the investigation seeks to reassemble the broad context of the design and implementation of the camera system mapping actors and institutions, technical studies and documents, companies involved in the production of equipment, and, of course, the rules and conditions of use of images. In short, the attempt of the present research is to contribute in an original way with the Brazilian sociological literature on the legitimacy of key institutions in democracy, violence and legal truth. The research is part of NEV-USP's Building Democracy Daily: Human Rights, Violence and Institutional Trust (CEPID-FAPESP), which focuses on the issue of legitimacy between the police and the judiciary.