The State of S. Paulo - Editorial - 16/08/2011

Finally, the encirclement of illegal trade is being closed, which for years has occupied many streets and squares in the city of São Paulo and has resisted several attempts by the government to curb its activities. The first decisive step towards this was the creation in late 2009 of the Delegated Operation, in which military police officers (PMs) participate in the fight against street vendors during free time, receiving an additional fee paid by the City. The second was the recent intensification of the Task Force's operations to combat pirated and smuggled products.

The Delegated Operation grew too much, extending to other sectors - such as the environment (combating invasions in areas of environmental protection) and health (acting as firefighters in the Mobile Emergency Service - Samu) - which requires participation of 4 thousand PMs. This “official bill”, which was only exceptionally acceptable, crossed the line and its incorporation into the salary of a large number of PMs creates a serious problem, because it tends to be seen as a way to compensate for their low salaries.

A problem that City Hall and the State Government have to resolve as soon as possible, bringing the Delegated Operation back to its original objectives and dimensions. Within these parameters, it produced excellent results and its action is fundamental for them to be preserved and expanded. Paulistanos can move freely again through streets, squares and viaducts in various regions of the city, long occupied by thousands of street vendors. The crime rates in these places - especially those related to robberies and thefts - fell sharply.

But it has always been very clear to all who have addressed this problem that a direct and continued attack on sources of supply for illegal trade is essential to prevent street vendors, driven from those places, to resume their activities in other regions sooner or later. . Without it, camelodromes just change places.

Hence the importance of that Task Force, created in 2002, in the Marta Suplicy government, with the participation of the Metropolitan Civil Guard, City Hall inspectors, Civil, Military and Federal Police, State Prosecutors and the Federal Revenue Service. His successors maintained and improved the Force, which today also counts on the participation of the Municipal Secretariats of the Subprefectures and of Health (through the Health Surveillance), the State Secretariat of Finance and the National Council for Combating Piracy of the Ministry of Justice.

Operations carried out by the Task Force have always produced good results. The weakness of this initiative was the sporadic nature of these actions, although it was known from the beginning that continuity was essential to prevent the stocks of illegal seized products from being replenished, and everything started again. Finally, this has been done since December last year, under the Cidade Livre da Pirataria program, in partnership with the Ministry of Justice. According to the Municipal Secretariat for Urban Security, 18 operations have already been carried out, which resulted in the seizure of 25 million illegal products - pirated, counterfeited or smuggled - and the identification of 93 foreigners linked to these activities and their notification by the Federal Police to leave the country. Parents.

The targets of the most recent operation, carried out at the end of July, were Shopping Mirage and Galeria 960, in the region of Rua 25 de Março, which, in addition to their normal movement of irregular products, absorbed a good part of those sold by street vendors. expelled from that area. Of the 160 stores surveyed, 114 sold illegal goods. 152 thousand pirated or smuggled products were seized, mainly watches, bags, clothes and sneakers.

The fact that so many products were seized, eight months after the intensification of operations, shows the strength of this type of illegal activity and makes clear, once again, the need for the Task Force to act permanently.