Public security should be universal right, says Brazilian minister

BRASILIA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's newly named minister of public security, Raul Jungmann, said Wednesday that one of his objectives in the role is to make public security a universal right.

In his first press conference, Jungmann said that Brazil had succeeded in making health and education accessible to everyone.

"We have not succeeded in making the right to security universal. The creation of this ministry is a step in that direction," he said.

The minister also announced a series of new initiatives to resolve security "bottlenecks." For example, the ministry will hire 1,000 new federal police officers, while its budget has been set at 2.7 billion reais (830 million U.S. dollars) for the first year to avoid any shortfalls.

"Given the need and urgency to reinforce personnel, especially in the federal police and the federal highway police, we are authorized to begin exams for 500 new federal police officers and 500 new federal highway police officers," stated Jungmann.

Furthermore, the ministry will double federal officers dispatched to border crossings. The fight against corruption will also be reinforced with 20 police commanders to be reassigned to the sector.

Jungmann also intends to ensure more "police on the streets," pointing to Rio de Janeiro as an example of having too many officers in administrative roles.

Jungmann set the target of having a maximum of 2 percent of police officers in administrative roles. Enditem