The Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State Military Police) is a military law enforcement agency of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is the largest state police force in the country, with over 100,000 personnel in its ranks, in several battalions throughout the state as well as within the Greater São Paulo region (Grande São Paulo) which itself comprises 40 cities and towns.
It should not be confused with the Military Police of the Armed Forces, which are the Army Police (Brazil) (Polícia do Exército), the Air Force Police (Polícia da Aeronáutica) and the Police Company of the Naval Battalion (Companhia de Polícia do Batalhão Naval).
In Brazil, State Military Police Officers are considered military personnel by the Brazilian constitution, however, they perform police duties among civilian populations. In certain cases, they can also act as reserve forces for the Brazilian Army.
Under the United Nations, in cooperation with the Brazilian Army, the Military Police of São Paulo State has served in Angola, Mozambique, East-Timor, Sudan, and Haiti.
Its primary function is to perform the patrolling of public places such as city streets, state highways and forests in the entire state and also authority escorting, intelligence and reconnaissance (P2) and crime prevention duties. São Paulo Fire Fighters belongs to PMESP and are equally structured as a state police organization.
The PMESP is further divided into specialized units as follows:
The police force was founded by Brigadier General Rafael Tobias de Aguiar on December 15, 1831, originally as the São Paulo Municipal Imperial Guard. The MPSP of today was raised in 1935 as a result of its involvement in the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932.
Conte Lopes, now a political representative, was a commanding officer (ranked as captain) behind the famous ROTA units in the 1970s and 1980s.
Cel. Ubiratan Guimarães, the commanding officer of the police operation resulting in the Carandiru massacre, was a high-ranked officer in the PMESP ranks (ranked as colonel).