1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

UPP soldiers Juliana Gomes, De Luca and Maia watch the surroundings and the beaches of Leblon and Ipanema from the top of the shantytown of Vidigal, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 13, 2012. Initiated in 2008, the UPP, short for Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora (in English, Pacifier Police Unit or Police Pacification Unit), is a new system of community policing in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas once run by drug traffickers. While many believe that UPPs have helped quell violence by opening the doors of the favelas to public services such as legal electricity supply, garbage collection, education, public works and social assistance program, others see the pacification program as a temporary cover-up to security problems in Rio de Janeiro.