The Use of Digital Technologies by Military Police: debates on surveillance, the future of policing and privacy


Luiza Dutra, Pontifícia Universidade Católia do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)

Surveillance has become a subject of great interest among researchers and social activists worldwide in recent years. The advancement of digital technologies, the expansion of the internet and mobile networks, as well as communication applications, has led to an expansion of the range of control, data processing, and institutional actions. It can be said that even social relations have changed as a result of these events. From data processing in health areas to policing and security, macro and micro relational dimensions have experienced new dynamics. Currently, surveillance depends on the digital infrastructure that has enabled the growth of large-scale, faster, and distributed computer systems in various institutional and private locations, as well as the active participation of millions of people who, consciously or unconsciously, contribute to its growth. Disputes surrounding this discussion daily take shape around the fields and limits of surveillance and privacy, presenting important examples that illustrate the current struggles. In this sense, the integration of new digital technologies, the use of artificial intelligence, and data monitoring and processing software in various social institutions are hallmarks of contemporary society. In police corporations and the field of public security, it is no different: facial recognition and the use of body worn cameras are some of the technologies that mark public debate on policing and public security in Brazil and worldwide. Specifically, the use of body worn cameras emerges amid disputes within the field of Public Security in Brazil as a way to better manage police operations, reduce abuses of power, confront the high number of deaths caused by agents, and prevent deaths of police officers themselves. Despite promises of social improvements through the use of this technology, the analysis of conflicting discourses in the field of police action control, as well as challenges/possibilities/trends for the use of these technologies, has been the focus of many national research efforts. Building critical awareness based on studies of the field seems to be a necessary path to consider how to manage the future of policing in vigilant societies that seek to manage security in the best possible way. In these different analytical scenarios, the present research aimed to provide a state of the art regarding studies on police body cameras conducted in the last 5 years in the field of social sciences in Brazil. Thus, the bibliographic search and research focused on Humanities literature, with special attention to literature that brought experiences from the Latin American continent, but also encompassing American and Canadian productions that have already adopted the use of these tools. The research is taking place on some journal portals such as Scielo, CAPES Periodicals Bank, Google Scholar, and Scopus. We also sought to include other formats of scientific works, such as theses, dissertations, and conference proceedings, published until 2023: CAPES Theses Bank, the proceedings of the National Association of Research in Social Sciences (ANPOCS), the Brazilian Society of Sociology (SBS), as well as conferences from Lavits, IBCCRIM, and Digital Humanities. The main terms searched, in Portuguese and English, were: body worn cameras; cameras on police uniforms - câmera nas fardas dos policiais; câmeras corporais. A selection of texts was made based on the scope of the intended discussion, as well as the necessary debates for greater theoretical consistency. In a preliminary conclusion, we can identify that, in Brazil, studies on the use of body-worn cameras in police departments are still in their early stages. Similarly, research tends to be divided between fields that aim to demonstrate the increase in surveillance with the use of these tools, highlighting potential future dangers, or between fields that empirically indicate that cameras can bring benefits regarding police violence, demonstrating a narrative dispute.

Non-presenting author: Rodrigo Ghiringhelli de Azevedo, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul

This paper will be presented at the following session: