Municipal Guardas Become Brazil’s Second-Largest Security Force

Overview

• The Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública released its second‑edition Raio‑X on Tuesday showing guardas municipais at 107,457 in 2025, overtaking state civil police at 96,902 while the Military Police remained the largest force with 413,319 personnel.
• The FBSP total is higher than a Ministry of Justice 2024‑based sample because researchers cross‑checked RAIS, Munic and ministry records and verified data municipality by municipality, producing an estimate of 1,384 guard organizations.
• The study documents wide governance gaps: most municipal guard corps lack formal codes of conduct, one‑third have no disciplinary rules and one‑quarter have no ombudsman, and 44 municipalities exceed 2014 legal limits on guard size.
• FBSP highlights fiscal pressure in the security sector with 424,415 retirees who account for 34% of remuneration and a 2025 security payroll near R$230 billion, split roughly R$135 billion for active staff and R$96 billion for inactive staff.
• The shift raises concrete policy questions about standardizing oversight, clarifying municipal roles in policing, and fixing uneven pay and career structures, issues that could shape debate over the PEC on security and the SUSP.