Brazil’s highway cops: tough on voters, kind to putschist protests

The 2022 election was historic for Brazilian politics in many ways. It also marked arguably the lowest point for the Federal Highway Police (PRF), an oft-overlooked force which has gained prominence under the Jair Bolsonaro administration. During and after Election Day, the PRF showed itself as less of an independent federal body of law enforcement and more as an institution sequestered by the far-right.

On Sunday, when Brazilians elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for his third term as president, the PRF assigned over 3,600 agents to carry out operations officially aimed at curbing electoral crimes, such as parties bussing voters to polling stations.

As The Brazilian Report showed, off-duty officers were called into work to fulfill the high number of police operations.

Routine inspections on cars and buses doubled between the October 2 first round and Sunday’s runoff stage, with the vast majority occurring in pro-Lula states. 

The Lula campaign accused the government of using the PRF to carry out voter suppression. 

On Saturday night, hours before the polls opened, Brazil’s chief electoral justice Alexandre de...