Brazil implements database system on public safety

July 11, 2012 - Store, process and integrate data and information in the areas of public safety, prison system and law enforcement, and coping with illicit drug trafficking. This is the purpose of the new National Information System for Public Security, Prison and Drugs (Sinesp), recently created by the Ministry of Justice of Brazil. The goal is that Sinesp becomes an official mechanism for statistics able to compile and provide data and accurate information about the crime situation in Brazil.

"Today, the numbers we have on public safety are impaired. With Sinesp, we aim to have objective criteria for government action based on information which may be accompanied with transparency across society,"said the Brazilian Minister of Justice, Jose Eduardo Cardozo.

Sinesp will also facilitate the standardization of data. Currently, for instance, each state follows a line to record homicides, which makes coordinated action more difficult. "If someone is shot at a municipality and is treated at a hospital in a nearby town, for the National Health System, it is a local registry. For us, what interests is the place where the crime happened," he added.

States that do not provide data to Sinesp will not receive federal transfer of funds for public safety and penitentiaries. In the minister´s opinion, the system is one of the most important projects to improve public safety in the country in recent years.

The National Secretariat of Public Safety of the Ministry of Justice will begin the process of developing and deploying the system in partnership with federal agencies for compliance with the new rules. Later, the Justice Department will open a bid to facilitate the purchase of equipment and training to the new system.

According to the National Safety Department secretary, Regina Miki, now is the time of standardization. "We need to agree with the states on how to record these events. We will have a unique platform for an action plan for public safety that will deliver results, not only effort, but effectiveness of the policy." The importance of the new system is historic according to Regina Miki. "The Sinesp is one of the greatest legacies we will leave to the public policy of the country.".

Created by the executive branch of the Brazilian Government, the proposal was sent to Congress as a measure of the program Crack: It is possible to Win.

UNODC works closely with governments, international organizations and civil society to strengthen institutional structures and the rule of law for an effective control of organized crime and drug trafficking. In this sense, the systematization of data is a fundamental step for the analysis and the design and implementation of more effective actions.

Access the full text of the Act 12.681/2012 which created Sinesp

With the Ministry of Justice

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