ARTICLE 01 · BRAZIL
Police use of force in Brazil.
Between the onset of physical resistance and the establishment of custody lies a sequence of actions that can last mere seconds, involve multiple officers, and end in vastly different ways.
Brazil has regulations, training, academic research, and institutional literature on police use of force. These resources allow us to study crucial aspects of the issue.
However, regulations, professional perception, training performance, body camera footage, and real-world incidents represent different levels of evidence.
This article outlines this starting point: what currently exists, what each data type allows us to observe, and which questions remain open regarding resistance, physical control, immobilization, handcuffing, and custody.
What happens between the moment a person begins to physically resist and the moment custody is effectively established?
USE OF FORCE IN BRAZIL
Research exists. First, we need to know exactly what it measures.
Police use of force is the subject of regulation, professional training, academic studies, institutional research, and technical literature in Brazil.
The Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), through the National Secretariat of Public Security (SENASP), maintains publications related to use of force regulations, training, policing, and body-worn cameras.
Universities, researchers, military police, civil police, and other public security institutions also produce knowledge on the subject.
The problem arises when results of different natures are treated as if they answer the same question.
A regulation describes how a specific action should be conducted. A questionnaire records what professionals report. A simulation allows for the observation of performance under defined conditions. An incident report documents the event in another way. A recording can reveal parts of the temporal sequence.
None of these sources need to be discarded. But each has its own scope and limitations.
LEVELS OF EVIDENCE
Different sources answer different questions.
Separating levels of evidence prevents drawing conclusions broader than the data itself allows.
For the study of police physical control, six groups of information are particularly important.
01
Doctrine and Regulation
Laws, norms, manuals, guidelines, and procedures that establish how the use of force should be directed.
02
Training
Police academy, self-defense, physical control, immobilization, handcuffing, weapon retention, and scenario-based training.
03
Perception
What officers report regarding readiness, difficulty, applicability, confidence, and perceived effectiveness of the skills learned.
04
Simulation
Performance observed in controlled scenarios that replicate specific law enforcement challenges.
05
Real-World Incident
Reports, administrative records, legal proceedings, body-worn cameras, CCTV, and other sources capable of reconstructing parts of an actual intervention.
06
Outcome
Custody, escape, injuries, medical care, hospitalization, instruments used, and other recorded results.
SENASP · MJSP · 2025
How does Brazil regulate the use of force?
In 2025, the National Secretariat of Public Security published Regulação do Uso da Força Policial no Brasil: efeitos da Portaria Interministerial nÂș 4.226/2010 (Regulation of Police Use of Force in Brazil).
The 146-page publication examines the regulation of police use of force in the country, highlighting normative differences across institutions and federal units.
This type of survey is fundamental to understanding the institutional environment in which force is applied.
But the existence of a norm and the reconstruction of the physical dynamics of an incident are different research subjects.
BRAZILIAN EVIDENCE
From training to performance observation.
Several Brazilian studies help illustrate how different questions require different research designs.
Police Self-Defense · PMGO
A study published in the Scientific Journal of the Mato Grosso do Sul Military Police evaluated techniques from the GoiĂĄs Military Police Self-Defense Manual.
The study analyzed 649 responses from military police officers who joined the force in 2023 and completed the training academy.
The questionnaire evaluated, among other aspects, the perceived effectiveness and learning difficulty of the taught techniques.
It is a useful source for studying professional perception. It should not be interpreted as a direct measurement of technique effectiveness in real-world incidents.
BJJ, Muay Thai/Kickboxing, and police performance
In June 2026, Henrique Del-Colle and Joe Eleuterio-da-Rocha published a quasi-experimental study in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology involving 34 cadets from a state police force in southern Brazil.
Participants were divided into three groups: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai/Kickboxing, and a control group with no supplementary martial arts experience.
Performance was evaluated in a simulated policing scenario involving decision-making, de-escalation, team safety, movement execution, and overall effectiveness.
The groups with supplementary martial arts training outperformed the control group across several metrics. The authors found no significant difference between the BJJ and Muay Thai/Kickboxing groups.
The study's design itself imposes a crucial limitation: it relies on a small, convenience sample observed in a simulation. The result does not prove that a specific modality will yield the same effect across all real-world incidents.
Body-worn cameras
In 2024, SENASP published CĂąmeras corporais: uma revisĂŁo bibliogrĂĄfica e documental (Body-worn cameras: a bibliographic and documentary review), gathering literature and documentation regarding the use of this technology in policing.
Recording an intervention creates a data source entirely different from questionnaires and written reports.
When image quality permits, video footage can help reconstruct the sequence, duration, and transitions of specific actions.
This opens a particularly relevant avenue for research on the micro-dynamics of resistance and physical control.
DATA INTERPRETATION
Perception, simulation, and real-world incidents are not the same evidence.
An officer deeming a particular technique effective informs us about their perception. It does not, on its own, demonstrate that technique's success rate in real-world incidents.
Similarly, superior performance in a simulation may indicate a relevant association without guaranteeing the same result will be reproduced across different environments, subjects, and resistance levels.
Observational data from real-world incidents also has limitations. It can reveal associations and patterns, but it does not automatically turn correlation into causation.
BODY-WORN CAMERAS · BWC
When we can observe the sequence, the question changes.
Physical resistance is rarely a single instant. It can evolve through a sequence of states and responses.
Between these points, there may be arm pulling, pulling away, escape attempts, grabbing, pushing, striking, loss of balance, takedowns, standing struggles, ground fighting, intervention by other officers, partial control, loss of control, and handcuffing.
Video allows us to study part of this temporality in a way that a final incident report may not.
But a camera does not equal a complete view. Angles, movement, proximity, obstacles, lighting, and the officer's own body can obscure relevant events.
Therefore, rigorous coding must allow for at least four answers: yes, no, undetermined, and not applicable.
Something that does not appear clearly in the recording cannot automatically be classified as something that did not happen.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The gap between resistance and custody still needs to be measured.
A systematic analysis of real-world incidents can transform seemingly isolated events into comparable variables.
01
How many incidents involving physical resistance end up on the ground?
02
In how many does the officer also end up on the ground?
03
How much time elapses between the onset of resistance and the establishment of control?
04
How many officers are present, and how many physically participate in the containment?
05
At what point in the sequence do injuries to the officer or the restrained subject occur?
06
How many interventions or control attempts precede custody?
07
Which sequences of resistance and response appear repeatedly?
08
When is seemingly established control lost, causing resistance to resume?
09
At what point are the hands effectively controlled for handcuffing?
10
What factors appear associated with longer duration, a higher number of interventions, or injuries?
COMBATIVES RESEARCH · CS-001
From evidence review to the study of incidents.
CS-001 â COMBATIVES Physical Control Study
Observational Study of the Dynamics of Resistance and Physical Control in Law Enforcement Incidents
This article is part of the research series underpinning the development of CS-001.
At this stage, the work consists of locating, organizing, and comparing existing evidence on use of force, resistance, physical control, handcuffing, injuries, training, and operational dynamics.
The studies and figures presented in this series belong to their respective cited sources. They do not constitute original results from CS-001.
The core observational phase will utilize a pre-defined protocol, inclusion criteria, operational variables, observation quality control, and independent coding.
The planned design starts with a pilot study prior to any sample expansion.
SOURCES & REFERENCES
Sources are the starting point.
The references below support the examples presented in this article. Population, design, methodology, and limitations must be considered before generalizing any result.
National Secretariat of Public Security · Ministry of Justice and Public Security
Regulação do uso da força policial no Brasil: efeitos da Portaria Interministerial nÂș 4.226/2010. BrasĂlia: MJSP, 2025. 146 p. MJSP Digital Library .
Costa, Leon Denis da
A Defesa Pessoal como NĂvel de Força Policial: Avaliação das TĂ©cnicas do Manual de Defesa Pessoal Policial da PolĂcia Militar de GoiĂĄs. Revista CientĂfica da PolĂcia Militar de Mato Grosso do Sul. View publication .
Del-Colle, Henrique · Eleuterio-da-Rocha, Joe
Police Officers With Supplemental Martial Arts Training Perform Better: A Quasi-Experimental Study With Brazilian Cadets. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 2026. DOI 10.1007/s11896-026-09827-0 .
National Secretariat of Public Security · Ministry of Justice and Public Security
CĂąmeras corporais: uma revisĂŁo bibliogrĂĄfica e documental. BrasĂlia: MJSP, 2024. 127 p. MJSP Digital Library .
The citation of institutions, law enforcement agencies, universities, researchers, and publications is strictly for documentary and research purposes. It does not imply affiliation, certification, support, sponsorship, or institutional endorsement of COMBATIVESâą.
COMBATIVES⹠· CS-001
From incident to evidence.
Brazil already produces relevant knowledge on police use of force, training, and operational activity.
The next step is to identify how far this data can go in reconstructing the dynamics between physical resistance and custodyâand where questions remain insufficiently answered.
The next phase of this series broadens the scope: how different countries record resistance, use of force, restraint, handcuffing, injuries, and policing outcomes.
Measure.
Compare.
Then interpret.