Between control and citizenship: how the responsible use of technology can redefine public safety in Brazilian cities.
*By Marcelo Batista Nery
I recently participated in Connected Smart Cities & Mobility 25, in a panel dedicated to reflecting on the role of technologies in the development of smart cities, where I had the opportunity to discuss their uses in the area of public safety. The experience highlighted a striking contrast between the perspectives of the private and governmental sectors compared to those that commonly circulate in the university environment.
It's easy to imagine the critical reaction of many academic colleagues to some technological solutions presented as answers to the challenges of urban security—for example, the idea of protecting inhabited areas based on a logic of delimitation and restriction, attempting to contain risks from the outside in. Couldn't the discourse of "protection" conceal the intensification of surveillance and repression? Couldn't it create zones of social control surrounded by monitoring technologies? Couldn't it reduce public policy to the management of calculated risks, where indicators replace rights and the population becomes a set of variables to be managed? While such questions deserve attention, the objective of this text is not to emphasize the divergences, but rather to highlight the points of convergence that emerge from this encounter between different perspectives.
During the event, I spoke with various experts, including the Municipal Secretary of Public Order of Niterói (Rio de Janeiro), Gilson Chagas e Silva Filho. The city's experience, summarized in the "Niterói Conectado" program, illustrates how the combination of strategic planning, investment in technologies, and integration of public policies can make a municipality stand out on the national stage.
This set of actions has transformed Niterói into a benchmark for public safety and urban innovation, a recognition consolidated with winning 1st place in the Connected 2025 Award. The initiative combines technological management with social participation, involving experts and residents in defining goals until 2030. The results are significant: a consistent reduction in homicides and property crimes.
The program serves very well as an example of a successful municipal public policy, which leads us to some considerations. The key point is the recognition that past, present, and future are intrinsically connected and must be considered in an integrated way in any analysis.
In the field of public safety, the present moment is unique: never before have there been so many technological tools available, such a large amount of data generated, and consequently, so much potential to understand, evaluate, and intervene in criminal dynamics.
This scenario opens up not only new possibilities for action, but also ethical and political challenges related to the use of sensitive information, the governance of technologies, and the balance between operational efficiency and respect for fundamental rights.
To understand this present situation, however, it is necessary to look at the historical obstacles that have marked the use of technology in public safety in Brazil. The past shows that the adoption of innovations has faced numerous hurdles, such as entrenched bureaucratic culture, institutional resistance to change, and a lack of adequate infrastructure, which hindered data integration and the modernization of services.
The centralization of decisions, the pressure for numerical targets, and the rigidity of procedures limited operational autonomy, while the fragmentation of records, the disorganization (even disappearance) of files, and the underutilization of computerized systems compromised the effectiveness of innovations. Furthermore, the authoritarian and repressive tradition of the military regime delayed the adoption of more democratic and preventative practices – and continues to delay them today. These obstacles, coupled with insufficient training and the uneven efficiency of new technologies, resulted in partial and unequal implementations.
Looking to the immediate future, conflicts of global scale and impact stand out, such as the war in Ukraine, the confrontation in Gaza, the tension between India and Pakistan, as well as the civil war in Sudan and the advance of armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. These international scenarios are not disconnected from the Brazilian reality: on the contrary, they directly influence the security environment in the country.
The spread of military technologies and capabilities, intensified by the global circulation of weapons and the ease of access to dual-use components (with civilian and military applications), increases the possibility that criminal groups in Brazil will have access to increasingly sophisticated weaponry. We must consider the arrival of high-caliber rifles, electronic sights, encrypted communication systems, and even armed drones or drones adapted for transporting illicit cargo or monitoring territories.
The increasing availability of these resources enhances the firepower and strategic capacity of criminal factions, which then begin to rival not only each other but also the State itself in certain regions, jeopardizing public safety and demanding new forms of technological regulation. Even if one municipality is successful in confronting this reality, another may not have the same success, which ends up affecting it directly and/or indirectly.
Overcoming historical obstacles in the use of technology for public safety requires more than infrastructure investments; it demands profound cultural and institutional changes. Today, it is essential to promote governance based on transparency, adequate regulation, and principles of responsible artificial intelligence, ensuring that algorithms are auditable and free from bias.
Overcoming these challenges also involves integrating data from different sources, strengthening cooperation between different levels of government, and encouraging balanced partnerships with the private sector, without compromising the public nature of security. Looking to the future, it is necessary to adopt an integrated strategy that combines strengthening border control, improving legislation and enforcement, and investing in innovation, research, and dissemination.
Furthermore, it is crucial to expand cooperation between security forces, defense institutions, and financial investigation agencies in order to weaken the logistical chains of arms trafficking, while simultaneously promoting a social prevention agenda aimed at reducing the demand for these arsenals in urban criminal dynamics. It is also necessary to invest in the continuous training of police officers, expand social participation, and foster a culture of digital literacy, allowing both agents and citizens to understand, question, and legitimize the use of technologies: People are fundamental in this process!
The challenge facing Brazilian cities, therefore, is to articulate technique, ethics, and democratic commitment. The experience of Niterói demonstrates that it is possible to align efficient public management, integration of social policies, and strategic use of technologies. However, its repetition, even in municipalities with similar demographics and crime rates, is no guarantee of success. More than replicating models or erecting barriers, it is about thinking of truly connected cities, capable of integrating territories and citizens around shared and inclusive solutions. The future of urban security will depend on the ability to overcome historical obstacles, face global risks, and, above all, ensure that innovation is guided from today onwards by demands at multiple scales—from regional to local—and citizen participation. Only with this set of actions will it be possible to align technological advances and human rights, guaranteeing efficiency without sacrificing social justice.
*Marcelo Batista Nery is a researcher at think tank from ABES and the Oscar Sala Chair at the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP (IEA-USP), coordinator of Technology Transfer and Head of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center (BRA-61) at the Center for Violence Studies at the University of São Paulo .
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
Article originally published on the Connected Smart Cities website: https://portal.connectedsmartcities.com.br/2025/10/13/cidades-conectadas-e-cidadaos-seguros-licoes-do-passado-desafios-do-presente-e-possibilidades-futuras/
