Supreme Court Minister Flávio Dino kept the veto to change the name of the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM) from the city of São Paulo to “Municipal Police”. The request for urgent relief was denied by the minister, who considered that the decision of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo (TJ-SP), which had already denied the change, is correct.
In favor of the change, the National Federation of Municipal Guards Unions (Fenaguradas) made the request after receiving the negative of the State Court. The entity argues that the Organic Law of the Municipality of São Paulo “does not exclude the Municipal Guard, nor the expression Municipal Guard, nor does it remove its institutional identity, only adds to the Municipal Guard institution to use another nomenclature.”
The STF minister, however, states that all legislation uses the nomenclature “municipal guards” and that, at no time, the Constitution gives the municipal guards the designation of “police”, reserving this terminology to specific bodies, such as the Federal Police, Federal Highway, military and criminal civilians.
“The law that instituted the Unified Public Security System (SUSP) reinforces this distinction by listing the municipal guards as operational members of the system, without, however, attributing them the denomination of ‘police’,” Dino says in the decision.
“The denomination ‘Municipal Guard’ is an essential element of the institutional identity of these bodies. Allowing a municipality to change the nomenclature of its municipal guard through local law would represent a dangerous precedent, as it would be equivalent to authorizing states or municipalities to freely modify the denomination of other institutions,” he adds.
In the decision, the minister also makes the caveat of the precedent that this decision would have for other government agencies: “The absurd possibility of a municipality renamed its City Hall to ‘Municipal Senate’ or its City Hall for ‘municipal presidency’ exemplifies the risks of this flexibility,” he compares.
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He stresses that this type of change can cause “institutional confusion, it would impair the uniformity of the system and could lead to interpretative conflicts, both legal and administrative.”
Councilors are in favor of change
In March, the councilors of São Paulo approved the project of amendment to the Organic Law that provides for the change of the name of GCM to Municipal Police.
The vote took place two weeks after the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decides that Brazilian municipalities are competent to institute that municipal civil guards act in urban security actions. After this understanding, some cities, such as São Bernardo do Campo, approved the change of guard name to police.
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However, less than 24 hours after approval, the São Paulo Public Prosecution Service (MP-SP) announced that it would go to court to annul the change. For the MP, changing the name of the guard is unconstitutional, because “the expression ‘police’ is used for specific organs, with attributions well delineated in the constitutional text, which are not confused with those of the guards,” according to the institution.
The change was debated at the TJ-SP, which annulled the change in the name, and now, in the higher court, the STF, which rectified the decision of the TJ-SP.