The seminar ‘Dialogues on Public Security: experiences in Brazil and in the UK’ will bring together leading public security experts, policy makers, researchers and activists from the UK and Brazil to share their experiences in the field and to discuss the challenges and possible strategies for addressing the phenomenon of urban violence.The event will seek:

  • To analyse the mechanisms of the State’s security apparatus in Brazil and in the UK, differing institutional challenges, and differing strategic priorities.
  • To discuss the relationship between police and communities and the legal mechanisms of criminal investigation in London and Rio: with special focus on the experiences of the UPPs (Pacifying Police Unit) and Rio’s Homicide Division, and British experiences of neighbourhood policing and policing by consent.
  • To address within a human rights framework the actual experience of public security initiatives in situations of crime and violence, reflecting on the efforts of civil society institutions working for policy change in both countries.
  • To look at how cultural and artistic initiatives can influence public security policy and transform relationships between police and citizens.

The seminar is part of the research project Someone to watch over me, new ways of understanding the Police, culture and the favela in Rio de Janeiro, led by Dr Eliana Silva (Director of the Maré Networks), who has been awarded a Newton Advanced Fellowship (2015-17) by the British Academy. The project is supported by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Queen Mary University of London.

When: Friday, 26 February 2016 from 09:00 to 17:00 (GMT) 

Where: Octagon, Queen Mary University of London – 327 Mile End Road London, LONDON E1 4NS GB – View Map

PROGRAMME

09.00 Coffee and Registration

09.30 Welcome from Professor Morag Shiach, Vice-Principal and Executive Dean (Humanities and Social Sciences) at Queen Mary University of London

09.40 Introduction to the seminar by Professor Paul Heritage, Artistic Director at People’s Palace Projects, and Dr Eliana Sousa Silva, Founder and Director of Redes da Mare?

09.55 Incursion – short film produced by Escola de Cinema Olhares da Maré, documents the evening of the 5th April 2014, the night preceding the arrival of the Brazilian Army in the Complexo da Maré, one of the largest concentrated favela territories in Rio de Janeiro.

10.10 Session One: Reflections on Public Security Systems in Brazil and the UK

  • Professor Michael Keith, Director of COMPAS and Co-Director of the University of Oxford Future of Cities programme
  • Professor Betsy Stanko OBE, Head of Evidence and Insight, Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime
  • Regina Miki, National Secretary of Public Security, Ministry of Justice, Brazil

11.15 Coffee break

11.30 Session Two: The Relationship between the Police and Society, with special focus on the experiences of the UPPs (Pacifying Police Unit) and Rio’s Homicide Division, and British experiences of neighbourhood policing and policing by consent.

  • Dr Graham Denyer Willis, University Lecturer in Development Studies and Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge
  • Inspector Nick Fallowfield, Metropolitan Police
  • Commissioner Cindy Butts, IPCC Independent Police Complaints Commission
  • Coronel Joseli Cândido da Silva, Special Advisor to the Commander of the Military Police, Rio de Janeiro
  • Rivaldo Barbosa de Araújo Junior, Police Commissioner, Head of the Homicide Department, Civil Police, Rio de Janeiro

13.30 Lunch

14.00 Why are the police so violent? – Short film produced by Escola de Cinema Olhares da Mare? based on an essay written by Dr Eliana Sousa Silva.

14.15 Session Three will address within a human rights framework the actual experience of public security initiatives in situations of crime and violence, reflecting on the efforts of civil society institutions working for policy change in both countries. Speakers confirmed:

  • Professor Paul Heritage, Artistic Director at People’s Palace Projects
  • Dr Fernando Fernandes, Lecturer at School of Education, Social Work and Community Education at the University of Dundee, UK
  • Deborah Coles, Co-director of Inquest
  • Daniel Machover, Head of civil litigation for Hickman & Rose Solicitors

15:45 Coffee Break

16.00 Session Four: Reflections on the Role of the Arts in the Public Security debate in Brazil and the UK

  • Professor Cathy Mcilwaine, Professor of Geography, Queen Mary University of London
  • Dr Matthew Jennings, Lecturer in Drama, University of Ulster
  • Jonathan Burgess, Playwright, Crows on the Wire
  • Jailson de Souza e Silva, Founder of the Observatory of the Favelas

17.00: Closing Remarks by Dr Eliana Sousa Silva

17.30: Drinks reception