In the United States, anyone who wants to reach command starts in a patrol car and works their way up. In Brazil, the logic is different — and the person who explained it to Palavrão Tático has lived both ends of a career in the São Paulo Civil Police. In episode 49, Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu sat down with delegado Maurício de Tomasi, who joined as an investigator in 2008 and became a delegado in 2011. To get there, he had to do it all over again.

"For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a delegado"

The family had other plans. His father, who worked at the São Paulo State Court of Justice for almost 40 years, wanted his son to be a diplomat: French school, English classes, an exchange program in the United States (New York and then Boise, Idaho) and Social Sciences at the University of São Paulo (USP), with an eye on the Rio Branco Institute, Brazil's diplomatic academy. "But my heart wanted to be in the police." And not just any police: he wanted investigations. "I didn't see myself in uniformed patrol. I wanted to be a detective."

Because a delegado in Brazil must hold a law degree, while still in his third year of Social Sciences he enrolled in law school at Mackenzie. For a while he did both degrees at the same time — law in the morning, an internship at the Public Prosecutor's Office in the afternoon, Social Sciences at night.

GAECO as a school

There was no internship program in the police. The closest thing to investigations he could find was GAECO, the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's unit dedicated to fighting organized crime — one of the first structures of its kind in the country. "I bugged those guys to death until I got a transfer." He stayed three years, until he graduated in 2005. "That place was a school."

Then came years of exams: he failed the oral stage of the delegado exam in 2006, passed the Banco do Brasil exam, and tested in about twelve states — the Southeast, South and Center-West, including the Federal District Civil Police, which he considers one of the best in the country. In 2008 he passed in São Paulo, where he wanted to be. But as an investigator.

Starting "on the shop floor"

What looked like plan B he now sees as the best path. "I came up through the ranks, as you'd say over there. Hands on." He said that, if he could, he would have started even earlier — in uniformed patrol, in traffic, like the American model where an officer patrols first and promotes up. "I really like that model." Within Brazil's two-police system, the closest thing to it is joining the Civil Police in an operational position.

At the 78th Precinct (78º DP), the Jardins district that covers the Avenida Paulista corridor, he worked the duty desk, regular shifts and investigations. And he kept studying.

Making delegado: "restart"

Here is the core difference. To become a delegado, an investigator has to take the public delegado exam like any outside candidate — "compete as if you were a boot again, a rookie." Approved in 2011, he went back to the Police Academy (the course ran from 2012 to 2013), entered a new ranking and chose his assignment all over again. "Restart. From zero."

He picked the 99th Precinct, in São Paulo's South Zone, which covers the northern part of Interlagos. And he started right away as assistant to the precinct commander — in practice, the delegado who directs the district's investigations. He led a property crimes team: fraud, residential robbery and burglary, "saidinha de banco" (robberies of people just leaving the bank), and robbery-homicide. The first case he followed "from start to finish," from the police report to the arrest of everyone involved, was an express kidnapping. "If what came before was my undergraduate degree in investigations, that was grad school." About three years later he returned to the 78th Precinct in the same role.

Teacher, master's degree and now a candidate to teach at the academy

Starting in 2016, teaching became part of his routine: exam-prep courses, in-person and online classes, undergraduate and graduate courses at a private university, and a prep course specifically for future delegados. He earned a master's in Public Management and Policy at FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas), through an agreement between the Police Academy (Acadepol) and the foundation to train police managers — the next step up, which means moving from working cases to running the organization. He spent time in the Civil Police intelligence department, working on crime analysis and on expanding the online police-report system, which became the subject of his master's thesis.

He is now competing for a teaching position at Acadepol itself, in organized crime and criminal investigation procedure. The hosts connected it to their own role: in the United States, the experienced officer who trains rookies is the Training Officer. "I'm trying to be a TO over here," the guest summed up.

How the career moves up in California

On the American side, there is no "delegado exam." An officer comes in through the academy, goes through a probationary period with a Field Training Officer and, over the years, competes for promotions inside their own department: sergeant, lieutenant, captain and above, through written exams, oral boards and a review of their record, according to each city's or county's civil service rules. Investigations are an assignment: an officer can move to a detective unit without changing careers or going back to the academy. It is the model the guest said he admires — and one that, in Brazil, only comes close for people who start in an operational position.

What the two of them think about it

In the episode, Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu talk with the guest about his career path and discuss the role of the Training Officer in shaping American police officers. The full conversation is in the episode.

Sources and verification

Brazilian Federal Constitution, art. 144 (civil police forces headed by career delegados; military police responsible for uniformed patrol). Federal Law 12.830/2013, art. 3. São Paulo State Complementary Law 207/1979 (Organic Law of the São Paulo State Police). São Paulo State Public Prosecutor's Office — GAECO. California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), Field Training program. The career path, dates and roles described are the guest's own account in the episode.

Who's speaking here: Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu are active-duty police officers in the Los Angeles area, California — Brazilian-born, American citizens, with long careers in law enforcement. In this episode, produced in partnership with Criminal Cast, they host Maurício de Tomasi, a delegado with the São Paulo State Civil Police, professor of criminology and criminal procedure, and host of Criminal Cast.

Note: what is described here about American policing applies to California rules — and, in several points, to each officer's specific department. Rules change in other U.S. states. What is described about Brazil applies to the São Paulo Civil Police; each Brazilian police force has its own organic law, exam notice and internal regulations.