De segurança à letalidade: o processo de militarização da Polícia Rodoviária Federal durante o governo Bolsonaro

Abstract

The Federal Highway Police has been part of Brazil's public security institutions since 1988 and is responsible for traffic and crimes occurring on federal highways. The rise of the far-right, with the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president of the Republic in 2018, led to several changes in the political and institutional environment, including in the field of public security. In this context, the Federal Highway Police became one of the institutions affected by these changes, generating a need to understand the relationship between the government and this police institution. Therefore, this research aims to comprehend the influence of far-right speeches during Bolsonaro's government (2019 – 2022) on the Federal Highway Police. To achieve this, a qualitative methodology was used to analyze journalistic articles published on major portals, such as Folha de São Paulo, Estadão, UOL, and O Globo. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Federal Highway Police officers to avoid a media-biased perspective, contributing to a more comprehensive view of this relationship. In conclusion, the analysis of the results identified ideological discourses that contributed to the implementation of institutional mechanisms in the Federal Highway Police that promoted police lethality, as seen in the cases of the Novo Cangaço operation in Varginha (2021), Vila Cruzeiro (2022) and the murder of Genivaldo Santos (2022).