HORIZONTAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PMPR: THE CCALUF AS AN INNOVATION IN THE CONTROL OF POLICE LETHALITY

Abstract

This article examines the Commission for Monitoring and Control of Police Lethality and Use of Force (CCALUF) of the Military Police of Paraná (PMPR) as an institutional innovation in the field of horizontal accountability. The study adopts a qualitative approach, structured as a case study, with content analysis of meeting minutes (2023–2025), normative and strategic documents of the corporation, internal technical reports, as well as data from the Brazilian Forum on Public Security. The theoretical framework draws on national and international authors on accountability, governance, and use of force. The results show that the declared purpose of CCALUF is consistent with democratic governance standards: monitoring lethality, systematizing diagnostics, and proposing recommendations. However, its practice remains embryonic. Among its outputs are the update of the Directive on Differentiated/Selective Use of Force, the creation of a quarterly reporting model, and the proposal of case studies. Nevertheless, the reporting flow was interrupted, the use-of-force report was not implemented, and the case study proposal did not advance to effective application, with no formal recommendations submitted to the General Command beyond the normative update. Despite these limitations, CCALUF represents progress by establishing a collegial governance space, in line with the 2025–2027 Strategic Plan. Its institutional ownership — for being created by the corporation itself — reinforces its legitimacy and potential for continuity. It is concluded that CCALUF is an innovative arrangement, but still in a consolidation phase, whose main challenge is to transform diagnostics into normative and operational changes capable of contributing to the mitigation of police lethality.