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Municipal Guards Become Brazil's Second‑Largest Security Force

Rapid expansion has outpaced oversight, with stark state-by-state pay gaps and roughly R$230 billion in annual payroll straining public budgets.

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Overview

  • The Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública’s second Raio‑X, published Tuesday, reports guardas municipais rose 12.9% from 2023 to 2025 to 107,457 agents and now outnumber Polícias Civis.
  • The study finds major governance gaps in many municipal forces, including missing codes of conduct, absent corregedorias or ouvidorias in many corps and 44 municipalities that exceed legal staffing limits.
  • State police corps are under-resourced compared with legal targets, with Polícias Militares about 34% below their planned strength and Polícias Civis about 45% short of expected headcount.
  • The fiscal weight of security payrolls reached roughly R$230 billion in 2025, with 424,415 retirees accounting for a disproportionate share of costs and leaving less room for hiring or training active officers.
  • Ongoing legal and political moves, including PEC 18/2025 and SUSP debates plus recent STF permissions for municipal policing roles, raise the risk that expanded duties for guardas will be formalized before uniform oversight, integration and data systems are in place.