The Department of Political and Social Order () or DOPS was a

political police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

organ of the Brazilian government, notably used by the ''Estado Novo'' of

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

and the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

established in 1964. The DOPS was established in 1924. It was responsible for controlling and repressing political movements against the government. Under the

installed in 1964, the DOPS was overseen by

Sérgio Paranhos Fleury Sérgio Fernando Paranhos Fleury (19 May 1933 – 1 May 1979) was a Brazilian police deputy during the Brazilian military dictatorship. He was chief of ''DOPS'', the Brazilian "", that had a major role during the years of the Brazilian military g ...

, who was accused of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

and

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

but died before trial.

References

{{Brazil-poli-stub Secret police Military dictatorship in Brazil Torture