Research Shows 7 out of 10 Brazilians Distrust Police Work
The police’s job of ensuring public safety appears to be in question. A recent survey carried out by PoderData, the research division of the newspaper Poder360 , reveals that 70% of Brazilians distrust, to some degree, the work of the police. The survey, carried out between January 27th and 29th, interviewed 2500 people aged 16 or over and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points. According to the survey, 51% of those interviewed say they have “little trust” and 20% say they “do not trust” the police forces.
In addition to the high number of people who say they distrust the work of the police, the survey revealed that the percentage of people who say they “trust a lot” dropped 4 points compared to the last survey, carried out in 2023, going from 26% to 22% of interviewed.
For Daniel Pacheco, professor at the Faculty of Law of Ribeirão Preto (FDRP) at USP, one of the biggest problems this distrust causes is the lack of help between the population and the police forces. “The most modern studies in criminology say that in order to have effective control over crime, there must be a union of efforts between the police and the population. So when you have this distrust of the population towards the police, the union of efforts is harmed”.
Female distrust
The survey also revealed that men between 16 and 24 years old are those who say they most trust police work, with 36% of respondents, and women between 24 and 48 years old are those who say they most distrust police work, with 73%. % of respondents, above the national average.
In addition to the division between the sexes, the research revealed that the poorest populations, with a monthly income of up to two minimum wages, trust the action of the police forces more than people who earn more than five minimum wages, a group of which only 12% of those interviewed say they actually trust police work.
Reasons for distrust
For Ludmila Mendonça Ribeiro, professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), one of the potential reasons for this distrust being greater in women is the way in which police forces receive complaints. “A large part of crimes are recorded as a result of the confidence that the population has in the police’s ability to solve that case, so if I am a woman who has suffered sexual violence and I think that either the police will victimize me or they will not victimize me help, I’m unlikely to look for you again.”
She states that the lack of trust in the police is a problem because the more distrust there is in their work, the fewer crimes are reported, generating more insecurity. “The more distrust there is of the police, the fewer crime records we will have, especially those that frighten the population the most, which are robbery and theft”, analyzes the professor.
In addition to each person’s individual experiences, Ludmila states that media coverage has a great impact on public opinion. “The exposure of the police in the media as an institution that has corruption and violence and that, instead of helping citizens, commits crimes itself, ends up increasing this distrust of the police.”
This distrust generates many problems, as a large part of the public policies created in Brazil are born from recorded incidents. “The fewer crime records we have, the more difficult it is to think about public security policies, since most of them are born based on police incidents”, concludes the expert.