RACES AND SPORTS EVENTS PROMOTED BY THE PMPA: A STRATEGY FOR BUILDING CLOSER TIES WITH THE COMMUNITY

Abstract

This article analyzes road races and sporting events promoted by the Military Police of the State of Pará (PMPA) as a strategy for community engagement, framed within the perspective of community policing and institutional legitimacy promotion. Sport, especially road races that are free or low-cost to attend, constitutes a privileged space for interaction between the police and civil society as a whole, overcoming historical barriers of distrust and promoting the humanization of the military police officer. The article examines the main sporting events in the PMPA's calendar, with emphasis on the Coronel Fontoura Race, held for more than five decades at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) campus; the Tiradentes Race, which in 2025 brought together 1,500 participants; and the BOPE Sunset Run, which in its fourth edition in 2025 registered approximately 5,000 entries, becoming the second largest road race in Belém. The research combines a bibliographic review on community policing, police legitimacy, and sport as a social engagement tool with documentary analysis of verifiable institutional and journalistic sources. Results indicate that PMPA sporting events produce measurable impacts in strengthening police-community bonds, promoting server health, and enhancing the institutional image, although the absence of systematic impact evaluations points to the need for more rigorous research on their effects on security perception and public trust.