Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais

Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais
Common name	BOPE
Bope Patch & Beret Badge
BOPE Logo
Motto	Faca na Caveira Knife in the Skull / Victory Over Death
Agency overview
Formed	1978
Employees	400
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	State of 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
General nature	Law enforcement Gendarmerie
Specialist jurisdictions	Counter terrorism, special weapons and tactics, protection of VIPs. Paramilitary law enforcement, counter insurgency, armed response to civil unrest, counter terrorism, special weapons operations.
Operational structure
Agency executive	Lieutenant Colonel Wilman René Gonçalves Alonso, Commander
Parent agency	Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State
Website
http://www.bopeoficial.com/
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (BOPE) (Portuguese: [bataˈʎɐ̃w dʒi opeɾaˈsõjs poliˈsjajs ispeˈsjajs]; literally "Police Special Operations Battalion") or BOPE is a special police unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State (PMERJ) in Brazil. Due to the nature of crime in favelas, BOPE units have extensive experience in urban warfare as well as progression in confined and restricted environments. It also utilizes equipment deemed more powerful than traditional civilian law enforcement.

BOPE of PMERJ is one of the best known units of its kind among Brazil's military police organizations. Military Police of Alagoas and Santa Catarina states also call their tactical units BOPE, while the military police of the Federal District, Piauí, and Rio Grande do Sul states call their forces "Special Operations Battalion(s)" ("Batalhão de Operações Especiais" or "BOE").

The force has a fleet of armoured fighting vehicles, which are known as "Pacificador" ("Peacemaker"), or "Caveirão" ("Big Skull") and one UH-1 Huey. These vehicles are used in operations in the slums (favelas) where BOPE face intense conflicts with heavily armed drug dealers. BOPE also operates a wheel loader in order to remove obstacles, barricades and street blockades. BOPE soldiers are equipped with heavy armament:

BOPE has generated notoriety due their role in the violent drug war in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and they have been referred to as a "Death Squad" by multiple newspapers. One aspect that has been pointed out specifically is their logo, which bears a knife in a skull over crossed pistols. 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.