| Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais | |
|---|---|
 Patch & Beret Badge | |
_-_PMERJ.png) Coat of arms | |
| Common name | BOPE |
| Motto | Faca na Caveira Knife in the Skull / Victory Over Death |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | January 19, 1978; 47 years ago (1978-01-19) |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
 | |
| Location of the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil | |
| Legal jurisdiction |  Rio de Janeiro |
| Governing body | Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State |
| Operational structure | |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State |
Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (BOPE) (Portuguese:[bataˈʎɐ̃wdʒiopeɾaˈsõjspoliˈsjajzispeˈsjajs]; literally "Battalion of Special Police Operations") is thetactical police unit andgendarmerie of theMilitary Police of Rio de Janeiro State (PMERJ) in Brazil.
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The BOPE currently perform a number of roles, including:
Due to the nature of crime infavelas, BOPE units utilise equipment deemed more powerful than traditional civilianlaw enforcement, and have extensive experience inurban warfare as well as progression in confined and restricted environments.
BOPE soldiers are equipped with heavy armaments:[1]
The force has a fleet ofarmoured fighting vehicles, which are known as "Pacificador" ("Peacemaker"), or "Caveirão" ("Big Skull") and oneUH-1 Huey.[2]
These vehicles are used in operations in the slums (favelas) where BOPE face intense conflicts with heavily armed drug dealers.
BOPE initially used black fatigues, which with time would become the trademark of the unit. In 2016, BOPE adopted theMARPAT camouflage pattern as its main uniform, which would help BOPE operators in operations in favelas and woodland enviroments, leaving black as mostly a ceremonial color.[3][4][5]
BOPE also operates awheel loader in order to remove obstacles,barricades and street blockades.[6]
BOPE has generated notoriety due to their role in the violent drug war in thefavelas ofRio de Janeiro and they have been referred to as a "Death Squad" by multiple newspapers.[7][8][9] One aspect that has been pointed out specifically is their logo, which bears a knife in a skull over crossed pistols (popularly known in Brazil as "faca na caveira", Portuguese for "knife in the skull").[8][10] According to the official BOPE website, the knife in the skull symbolizes "victory over death" and the crossed pistols are the symbol of the military police.[11]
A 2005 report onextra judicial executions by theNew York University School of Law indicated that BOPE was involved in the deaths of 4 teenagers under the pretext that they were drug traffickers who were resisting arrest: "BOPE officers falsified the crime scene in order to incriminate the victims. Hoping this way to make them appear to be gang members. No weapon was found on any of the victims. None of them had any previous history of criminal activity."[12]
Amnesty International declared that "the police forces in Brazil adopt violent and repressive methods. These cause violations of fundamental rights of large parts of the population on a regular basis",[13] and attributes a certain number of killed civilians to BOPE in particular. In March 2006, Amnesty International specifically condemned the use of vans with armoured plating, known as a Caveirão. It stated that deploying the vehicle aggressively, indiscriminately targeting whole communities, highlighted the ineffectiveness of excessive use of force.[14]
BOPE "played a central role" in the 2025Operation Containment. A purchase of rifles from aUnited States company by the unit was objected to by then ambassadorElizabeth Bagley with a memo describing the unit as "among the most notorious police units in Brazil in regard to killings of civilians" previously, the unit had imported at least 800 rifles from the United States.[15]
BOPE of PMERJ is one of the best known units of its kind among Brazil's military police organizations.
Military Police ofAlagoas,Pernambuco,Rio Grande do Sul andSanta Catarina states also call their tactical unitsBOPE, while the military police of theFederal District andPiauí states call their forces "Special Operations Battalion(s)" ("Batalhão de Operações Especiais" or"BOE").
BOpE or BOPE are acronyms that can refer to the following specialized military police units:
In 2006, the bookElite da Tropa was published. Written bysociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two BOPE officers, Major André Batista and Captain Rodrigo Pimentel, it provides a semi-fictional account of the daily routine of BOPE as well as some historical events, based on the experiences of the latter two. It describes BOPE as a "killing machine" and details an alleged aborted assassination attempt by some police officers on then-governorLeonel Brizola. The book was controversial at the time of release, and reportedly resulted in Batista being reprimanded andcensored by the Military Police.[30] The book has been made into a movie,Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad), directed byJosé Padilha (the director ofBus 174), with a screenplay byAcademy Award-nominated screenwriterBráulio Mantovani. In 2010 the movie gained a sequel,Elite Squad: The Enemy Within.
Two BOPE operators make an appearance in "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege" as playable operators. These operators are Capitão (Captain) andCaveira (Skull).
OPES is a Brazilian special police unit in the online first-person shooter Crossfire. The OPES logo features a skull and a knife similar to that of the BOPE. The OPES were introduced with the release of the 2011 Brazilian release of the game.
BOPE is featured on Season 1, Episode 2 ofElite World Cops, a television show hosted by formerSAS soldier and authorChris Ryan.
The UFE, one of the main antagonist factions that the protagonist Max goes up against inMax Payne 3, are based on the BOPE with many of them violating fundamental rights of civilians and using violent and lethal actions against denizens of favelas.
"The caveirão has become a powerful symbol of the failings of public security policies in Rio de Janeiro. It typifies the police's confrontational and divisive approach to Rio's public security crisis," said Marcelo Freixo of Global Justice at the launch of a campaign against the use of the Caveirão in Brazil's favelas.
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