Brasília, February 12, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Researchers, educators, and specialists in police training from various parts of the country will gather in Brasília tomorrow to debate a wide-ranging revision of the police academies' curricula and course contents and efficient ways, such as instruction at a distance, to generalize training of police units in consonance with the new concept of citizen security.

The National Secretariat of Public Safety (Senasp) defines the encounter as the initial kick-off of a profound qualitative change in the way police officers act, one of the cornerstones of the new national public safety policy. The idea is to bury once and for all the old belligerant ways that still permeate police actions, in favor of the technique of dialogue up to the limit, community insertion, and respect for human rights.

There are currently 458 thousand civilian and military police officers in Brazil. In the last two years, only 8 thousand have received instruction at the existing academies. (DAS)