Rio de Janeiro appoints first female police chief

Martha Mesquita da Rocha sworn in after 30 police officers arrested in corruption crackdown

guardian.co.uk, Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro,  Thursday 17 February 2011 

Former Rio de Janeiro police chief Allan Turnowski is accused
of receiving bribes. Picture: Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

Rio de Janeiro has appointed its first female police chief after revelations about police collusion with drug gangs and the mafia triggered what has been described as one of the worst security crises in the city's history.

Martha Mesquita da Rocha, 51, was sworn in on Tuesday, five days after dozens of police officers were arrested as part of an unprecedented crackdown on corruption.

"Dr Martha Rocha will carry out her mission with the sweetness and bravery of a woman, because when a woman needs to be, she can be braver than a man," said Rio's governor, Sérgio Cabral.

The scandal began on Friday when hundreds of federal police operatives launched Operation Guillotine, a dawn assault on allegedly corrupt officers. So far 38 people including 30 police officers have been arrested.

Among those currently behind bars is Carlos Oliveira, until recently one of the city's highest ranking officers, and Leonardo da Silva Torres, a former member of Rio's drug squad famed for wearing combat gear and smoking cigars duration operations.

Oliveira is accused of links to paramilitary vigilantes and drug traffickers, while Torres, who featured in the 2009 Channel 4 documentary Dancing with the Devil, allegedly sold weapons and information to two of the city's most notorious drug lords.

In one scene Torres locates a stockpile of drugs and weapons following a shoot out in the Jacarezinho shantytown. "I won't take it home or sell it but the pleasure is getting this off them," he says, eyeing the stash of hand grenades, ammunition and about a tonne of marijuana. "This only happens with true cops."

Oliveira and Torres have not commented on the charges.

Rocha, who joined the force in 1983, replaces Allan Turnowski, who was toppled on Monday and is accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes every month. Turnowski has described the claims as "a joke".

In a 2009 interview the outgoing chief appeared to predict his female successor.

"Maybe I'll be the last ever male police chief. Who knows?" Turnowski said at a police event in Rio.

With new revelations about police links to organised crime emerging every day, Rocha has promised a clean-up. Most of Rio's senior officers have been replaced.

In an interview with O Globo she said she wanted her officers to be "polite, clean-shaven, good-humoured and kind".

"I will be a severe mother. I will punish when necessary and distribute hugs when they are deserved," Rocha told the newspaper, which described her as a fan of Issey Miyake perfume, high heels and cooking.

Rocha told local TV she did not expect "resistance or rejection" because she was a woman and said the recent election of Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president, showed attitudes were changing.

"I think that maybe five years ago nobody would have expected a female president… [or] a female police chief. Soon this will stop being a shock, it will no longer be different."