| Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais | |
|---|---|
"Faca na Caveira" (Portuguese for "Knife In The Skull"), BOPE logo and motto |
|
| Active | 1978 - Present |
| Country | Brazil, Rio de Janeiro State |
| Type | Domestic Counter-Terrorism and Law enforcement |
| Role | Urban warfare, Law Enforcement, Operations in favelas (slums) (Counter-Terrorism) |
| Size | around 400 |
| Garrison/HQ | city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Nickname | BOPE |
| Motto | "Faca na Caveira" ("Knife In The Skull") |
| Colors | Black |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Lieutenant Colonel Wilman René Gonçalves Alonso |
Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (Portuguese for Special Police Operations Battalion), mostly known by its acronym BOPE, is a special forces unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.
Due to the nature of crime in favelas, BOPE units have extensive experience in urban warfare as well as progression in confined and restricted environments. It also utilizes equipment deemed more powerful than traditional civilian law enforcement.
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The origins of BOPE date back to January 19, 1978, when the Special Operations Company Nucleus (in Portuguese: Núcleo da Companhia de Operações Especiais or NuCOE) was formed and placed under the command of the chief of staff for the state's Military Police.
In 1982 the company was moved to the Riot Control Battalion (Batalhão de Polícia de Choque), thus becoming part of that unit changing its name to Special Operations Company (Companhia de Operações Especiais or COE). In 1984 the name was changed once again to NuCOE and was, again, under the command of the chief of staff.
In 1988, the Special Operations Independent Company (Companhia Independente de Operações Especiais or CIOE) was created, with its jurisdiction spanning all over the State of Rio de Janeiro. It became a battalion on March 1, 1991.
The force has a fleet of Armoured fighting vehicles, which are known as "Pacificador" ("Peacemaker"), or "Caveirão" ("Big Skull") and one UH-1 Huey.[1] These vehicles are used in operations in the slums (favelas) where BOPE faces intense conflicts with heavily armed drug dealers. BOPE also operates a wheel loader in order to remove obstacles, barricades and street blockades.[2] BOPE soldiers are equipped with heavy armament:
In 2006, the book Elite da Tropa was published. Written by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two BOPE officers, Major André Batista and Captain Rodrigo Pimentel, it provides a semi-fictional account of the daily routine of BOPE as well as some historical events, based on the experiences of the latter two. It describes BOPE as a "killing machine" and details an alleged aborted assassination attempt by some police officers on then-governor Leonel Brizola. The book was controversial at the time of release, and reportedly resulted in Batista being reprimanded and censured by the Military Police.[4] The book has been made into a movie, Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad), directed by José Padilha (the director of Bus 174), with a screenplay by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Bráulio Mantovani. In 2010 the movie gained a sequel, The Elite Squad 2.
In 2005, the report on extra judicial executions of the New York University School of Law indicated that BOPE was involved in the assassination of 4 teenagers on pretext they were drug traffickers that resisted arrest : « BOPE officers falsified the crime scene in order to incriminate the victims. Hoping this way to make them appear to be gang members. No weapon was found on the victims. None of them had any previous history of criminal activity. » [5]
Amnesty International declared that « the police forces in Brazil adopt violent and repressive methods. These cause violations of fundamental rights of large parts of the population on a regular basis »[6], and attributes a certain number of killed civilians to BOPE in particular. In March 2006, Amnesty International specifically condemned the use of vans with armoured plating, known as a Caveirão. It stated that deploying the vehicle aggressively, indiscriminately targeting whole communities, highlighted the ineffectiveness of excessive use of force.[7]
The Military Police of Alagoas and Santa Catarina also call their large tactical units BOPE, while the military police of the Federal District and the State of Piauí call theirs the Batalhão de Operações Especiais or BOE.