Opinion (Rogério COPETO): The GNR and PSP IN CHILD PROTECTION IN DANGER
This article is written in the sequence of the last one and aims to clarify the readers about the “Protection System for Children and Youth in Danger” in force since the day 1 January 2001, especially the importance that the Security Forces (GNR e PSP) play in that System.
Rogério COPETO
Lieutenant Colonel of the GNR, Master in Law and Security and Homeland Security Auditor
Head of the Education Division / Command Doctrine and Training
Although the current system has already completed 14 year old, there is still no consensus on the role that GNR and PSP should play in protecting children and young people in danger. If for some, this role is very important and fundamental, for others it is to include in the System someone who “doesn't understand anything about it”And that it should not play a role for which it is neither directed nor prepared.
So, we will try in the following paragraphs, demonstrate that GNR and PSP are not only prepared, how they have known over the years to respond to requests from the System and the community, in the most appropriate and effective way.
The image that best represents the System is a pyramid, where on its base are the 1st line institutions, the so-called entities with competence in matters of childhood and youth and which carry out the first intervention, this stage being a consensual intervention between the referred institutions and the families. On the second level are the Commissions for the Protection of Children and Youth in Danger (CPCJ), their intervention being allowed, by signing a protection and promotion agreement between CPCJ and families. And at the third level, this intervention is mandatory, the Courts are at this level, intervening only when all the institutions above failed to protect or families opposed the intervention of CPCJ's.
It appears that the intervention of the Security Forces in the System is transversal to the entire pyramid, intervening at all three levels, performing two of its most important functions: social and legal, constituting itself as a first line entity, when they perform social functions, in the prevention; on the second level as a full member of CPCJ´s; and at the third level as an adjunct to the Public Ministry, as a Criminal Police Officer, investigating crimes associated with dangerous situations.
Currently, there are about 305 CPCJ installed, the Security Forces being represented in all Extended Commissions, also being found in most of the Restricted Commissions, where they monitor compliance with the protection and promotion measures applied to children, ranging from the least burdensome support from parents, the most serious, which is the reception in an institution, adoption is the only measure that CPCJs cannot apply, fitting your application, only to the Courts.
The Security Forces are also the second entity that most children in danger signal to CPCJ’s, right after schools, representing about 20% of the total of the signals made. These data alone represent the great importance that GNR and PSP have in the System, whether it's in signage, whether in accompanying children, knowing the social reality of the community like no other institution knows.
Finally it matters to refer or fundamental role, that the Security Forces have in removing children who are in current and imminent danger and there is parental opposition, whose intervention in the application of urgent procedures is essential and indispensable.
The Security Forces during these years have also adapted the policing model, fundamental for the GNR and the PSP to respond to the current challenges placed on protecting children in danger, constituting priority lines of its performance: the promotion of an integrated crime prevention and containment policy; strengthening local partnerships with government agencies, local authorities and civil society, with a view to a more effective approach to the specificity of each community; foster citizens' responsibility and participation. In this context, the Security Forces have also provided various services to better respond to the problem, such as the “Safe School Centers” and the “Support Centers for Specific Victims” in GNR and the “Safe School Program Teams” and the “Proximity and Support Teams for Victims” in PSP.
From the above, it is concluded that the Security Forces are not only prepared, as it has the necessary skills to make its important contribution to the promotion and protection of all children and young people in danger, making the System more effective and efficient.
