Founded on March 1, 1565, the
City of Rio de Janeiro had its first police official the very next year when Francisco Fernandes was appointed the minor alcaide (or minor alcalde) and city jailer (carcereiro da cidade).
1603 - the nascent police and judicial functions began to be governed by the
Philippine Ordinances (Ordenações Filipinas), and in 1619 the Office of the Ouvidor-Geral (General Ombudsman/Magistracy) of Rio de Janeiro was established. In addition to administering justice, its duties included electing the ordinary or local judges (juízes ordinários ou da terra), inspecting prisons, and opening inquests (devassas - also meaning inquiries). The police activity was carried out by the alcaides, officials responsible for repressing criminal offenses, investigating and making arrests, always accompanied by a clerk who would draw up an official report of the occurrence, thus characterizing them as the first judicial police agents. Also from this period were the quadrilheiros, city residents in charge of policing the city by blocks or quarters, hence the name they received.
1808 - with the transfer of the
Portuguese Royal Family to Brazil, the police began to become regularized, gain structure, and assume an important social role. On May 10 of that year, the General Police Intendancy of the Court and State of Brazil (
Intendência Geral de Polícia da Corte e do Estado do Brasil) was installed in the city of Rio de Janeiro, centralizing the police attributions previously held by the Ouvidor-Geral, the alcaides, the quadrilheiros, and others. The first Intendant-General was Counselor Paulo Fernandes Viana, who began to organize the police administration following the model in Lisbon. By the notice of June 22 of the same year, the Police Secretariat (Secretaria de Polícia) was instituted,
the first administrative structure of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro State, which, in addition to its proper police mission, was in charge of supervising public entertainment, vehicle and vessel registration, issuing passports, etc.
1841 - during the Imperial period, another important reorganization modified the face of the police apparatus. The figure of the
Chief of Police (
Chefe de Polícia) was created for the Municipality of the Court of Rio de Janeiro (already separated from the Province of Rio de Janeiro) and for the Provinces (currently called States), along with the police division into districts, under the leadership of Delegates (
delegados) and sub-delegates (
subdelegados). The institution of the Police Inquiry (
Inquérito Policial) (Law No. 2,033, of September 20, 1871), a modern conception for investigating criminal offenses and identifying their perpetrators, marked this period of police history. After the Republic was proclaimed on November 15, 1889, the City of Rio de Janeiro, the former capital of the Empire, was renamed the Federal District. Law No. 947 of 1902 authorized the government to create the
Civil Police of the Federal District (Polícia Civil do Distrito Federal). This Law and other complementary ones, besides giving the police its first major structure, influenced all subsequent reorganizations.
1944 -
Civil Police of the Federal District was renamed the
Federal Public Safety Department (DFSP) (
Departamento Federal de Segurança Pública), a legal device to extend its powers to the entire national territory concerning maritime and border police, and political and social police. However, remaining the same institution, it continued to prioritize the exercise of judicial police and other public security services in the Federal District. Among the initial innovations of the republican period, noteworthy were the career police system, public entrance exams, the development of technical police (forensics), the creation of the Police School in
1912, and the organization of the
Federal District Civil Guard (
Guarda Civil do Distrito Federal) in
1904, a uniformed police corporation that policed the City of Rio de Janeiro. See also: Federal District Civil Guard
1960 - with the creation of the state of Guanabara, as a result of the federal capital moving to Brasília, the Civil Police of the State of Guanabara (
Polícia Civil do Estado da Guanabara), now within the sphere of state administration, became part of the structure of the State Public Security Secretariat. The reorganization of the police force copied the previous one and maintained the standard of efficiency by utilizing almost the entirety of the existing personnel.
1999 - The "Programa Delegacia Legal" (Legal Police Station Program) was implemented, which was responsible for starting the process of computerization for the entire Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro. The program brought an internal restructuring to the Police Stations, introducing most of the space to be separated only by half-height partitions, similar to American police offices and investigation desks. Computers were implemented to replace typewriters. The "SCO - Operational Control System" software was created, which was responsible for producing the documents for Police Inquiries (
Inquéritos Policiais) and In-Flagrante Arrest Reports (
Autos de Prisão em Flagrante), in addition to controlling the administrative part of the Police Station in a single program. The SCO is currently used in 2025 and will be switched to "SIPOL".
2019 - With the extinction of the Public Security Secretariat, which was the body directly linked to the
Governor of the State of Rio for security control, DECREE NO. 46.559 OF 2019, created the
Civil Police Secretariat of the State of Rio de Janeiro (
Secretaria de Polícia Civil do Estado do Rio de Janeiro). This granted the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro the power of a Secretariat, a status it did not have when subordinated to the Security Secretariat. Secretariats are the highest relevant structural classification inside the State executive branch in Brazil:
Police Delegate (Delegado de Polícia);
Civil Police Officer (Oficial de Polícia Civil);
Forensic Pathologist/Legal Medical Examiner (Perito legista);
Forensic Criminal Expert (Perito criminal);
Fingerprint Expert (Perito Papiloscopista);
Police Pilot (Piloto Policial); and
Scientific Police Technician (Técnico de Polícia Científica). The rank of
Commissioner (Comissário) is an class to which Civil police officers who reach the 1st class of the career are promoted, and it cannot be accessed via public entrance examination (concurso, in portuguese). There are no changes in functions between Commissioners and Civil Police Officers. Trust positions follow different rules. The positions listed above are accessed through competitive civil service exams. Appointed positions are for individuals who already hold one of the positions and take on leadership duties. They are: •
Chief Officer of the Investigation Unit – Police officer in charge of a Police Station, This position is always held by a Civil Police officer, preferably—but not necessarily— a Commissioner. •
Chief Delegate(Delegado Titular) – The Chief delegate responsible for the Jurisdiction of the Police Station. This position is always held by a Police Delegate. Chief Officer of the Investigation Unit are subordinate to the Chief Delegate. •
Coordinators – Responsible for Coordination Bureau, which are parallel coordination structures to 'General Departments'. Coordinators are neither subordinate to nor supervisors of Delegates or Directors, but directly subordinated to the Secretary/Chief of Police. •
Directors – Serving as heads of General Departments/Bureau's. Each Police Station Chief Delegate reports to and is under a authority of a Director. •
Undersecretaries – They manage Undersecretariats. They are subordinate only to the Chief of Police and to the Governor. The Undersecretary of Intelligence, as an exception, may report directly to the State Governor. •
Secretary – In Rio de Janeiro, the Chief of Police is a Secretary, since the police functions as a Secretariat in order to have its own budget. All leadership positions are held by career Police Delegates, except for the “Chief of the Investigation Unit.” == Duties ==