When the Military Police go to school: an impact evaluation of the Escola Segura program

Abstract

School violence is a worldwide phenomenon that affects a lot of people. Studies indicate that it is widely disseminated in Brazil, becoming a topic of strong public and academic concerns since the late 1990s. The problem of school violence has led to the creation of a variety of governamental programs aimed at its prevention, whose impact has been poorly evaluated in Brazil compared to the international literature. In May 2019, the government of Paraná started the implementation of a program called Escola Segura, which hired retired military police officers to work in the prevention of violence and crimes in public schools. The aim of this article is to evaluate the impact of Escola Segura on the feeling of security, victimization, graffiti and the consumption of illicit drugs in a public school in the city of Londrina. Data from a victimization survey applied in the studied school and in another similar school that did not receive the program are used. The impact is estimated using the quasi-experimental Difference in Difference method. The results show that Escola Segura has no impact on the variables analyzed. These results are discussed in light of the current brazilian political context, marked by the growing participation of the military in public and school management.

School violence; Public security policy; Military police; Impact evaluation; Quasi-experiment