SAO PAULO, July 29 (Reuter) A rash of police strikes has exposed deep fault
lines in Brazil's public security system and left the police force severely
debilitated, public security officials said.

Brazilian police returned to work in many places this week after more than a
month of protests during which hundreds deserted their posts in a bid to
strongarm local governments into awarding them pay raises ranging from 48 to
100 percent.

But Gen. Alberto Cardoso, head of the military office of the presidency, said
the protests dealt a death blow to the military police and signalled a total
breakdown in discipline.

``The military police has been profoundly wounded, I would even say fatally
wounded,'' Cardoso told daily newspaper O Globo. ``It's logical that those
responsible will have to answer for this.''

Police officers hit the streets to protest over meagre salaries, which they
blame for a wave of corruption and brutality, but experts predict the turmoil
will continue until the government announces wideranging reforms of the
system. And although state governments have pledged to increase salaries
across the country, the labour dispute could flare up again if those promises
are not kept, the analysts said.

A STAPLE ON THE EVENING NEWS

Scenes of hooded officers marching in the streets or engaging in pitched
battles with army troops became a staple of evening news programmes this
month as the strike, which hit 15 of Brazil's 27 states, spread every day.

In the northeastern city of Recife, chaos erupted as thieves took advantage
of the police action to rampage through the city centre, mugging passersby
and looting shops. In Minas Gerais, where the rebellion began, an army
officer was killed when tempers boiled over and a police demonstrator fired a
bullet that lodged in the officer's brain.

``Policemen are living in subhuman conditions, living in shantytowns and slum
tenements ... and getting evicted for not paying rent,'' said Cpl. Wilson de
Morais of the Association of Soldiers and Corporals of the Military Police.

In Rio de Janeiro, many of the policemen who battle drug traffickers in
shantytowns during the day say they are forced by low wages to work as
bodyguards for the same traffickers at night. Others are lured into crime by
the easy profits.

``If a policeman doesn't work at least two or three shifts in order to
survive, he is often forced to participate in crime,'' said de Morais.
``That's when this kind of thing happens policemen involved with gangs,
bank robbers or drugs.''

POLICE BLAME LOW SALARIES FOR ENDEMIC BRUTALITY

Public faith in Brazilian police fell to an alltime low this spring
following television broadcasts of amateur videotapes showing police officers
torturing and beating civilians and shooting at one man who later died.

The gray uniform of state military police, a civilian force modelled after
the army and created during Brazil's military dictatorship, has become a
symbol of dread for some and a target for others.

But even policemen who choose to work on the right side of the law say the
system rewards tangible results, encouraging them to shoot first and ask
questions later.

In Rio, officers start with a salary of $240 a month but they can boost that
by up to 150 percent if they perform ``acts of bravery,'' James Cavallaro of
U.S.based Human Rights Watch/Americas said. ``We went through 100 cases of
what were considered acts of bravery and they were practically all cases
where police killed someone,'' he said.

``If police received $750 they probably wouldn't have this absurd incentive
to kill outcasts.''

Although the problem of low salaries has long been blamed for endemic police
brutality, the recent wave of protests was set off when the Minas Gerais
state government caved in to protestors last month, awarding officers a 48.2
percent raise.

4,000 ARMED MEN PROTESTING OUTSIDE THE DOOR

Local media slammed the move, saying Gov. Eduardo Azeredo had allowed himself
to be taken hostage and charging that the very foundations of democracy were
under threat. But the governor defended his decision. ``What would you do if
you had 4,000 armed men protesting outside your front door?'' he asked.

Police officials said that although they were technically forbidden to strike
their men were near breaking point. ``At the national level, it's the first
time in history that there is a general revolt in Brazil,'' said de Morais,
who warned of a public security crisis unless state governors gave in.

This reliance on violence in tense situations is a symptom of the poor
training Brazilian police receive, Cavallaro said. ``The approach to security
has not been to develop a cadre of welltrained, intelligent officers,'' he
said. ``It has been to put large numbers of badly trained, poorly paid ...
heavily armed men on the streets.''

Salaries are not the only area where Brazil's police lag behind, officials
said. Officers carry antiquated revolvers which are no match for drug
dealers' automatic weapons and, unlike local bandits, they have no
bulletproof vests.

Compounding the lumbering inefficiency are frequent disputes over
jurisdiction among the many police forces, prompting calls for the fusion of
military and civil police.

The main hurdle to reforms is not a lack of money so much as an absence of
political will, analysts said. The ruling elite, accustomed to literally
getting away with murder, has little interest in promoting change, one
diplomat said.

``Brazil's elite doesn't want an intelligent police force. They want to
maintain a badly educated, racist and illiterate force so that if they do
anything wrong, the guy will be too intimidated to act against them,'' the
diplomat commented.

Others note that Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who made
security one of the five pillars of his 1994 election campaign, has let the
issue linger in Congress, focusing on his reelection campaign instead.

In the wake of public outrage over the video abuses, however, Cardoso issued
a decree making torture a crime and created a commission dedicated to human
rights.

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