A rising name in the team of political police officers, since the emergence of Bolsonarism, one of the hallmarks of his tenure as head of the State Secretariat was an explosion in promotions for acts of bravery, even benefiting himself when he was secretary.
Appointed by the then governor () in September 2024, Curi remained in office until last March, when he took leave to run in the next elections for the PP.
He announced that he will be a candidate for federal deputy, but, behind the scenes of Rio politics, he is considered a wild card, who could replace (PL), if the pre-candidacy of the president of Alerj (RJ’s Legislative Assembly) does not take off, or compete for a seat in the Senate in place of Castro, convicted by the (Superior Electoral Court) for abuse of political and economic power in the 2022 elections.
Curi’s electoral potential – seen as one of the main vote-pullers of the right in Rio de Janeiro – is associated with the spectacular actions of his administration, especially the operation in the Penha and Alemão complexes, with 122 deaths. But the explosion in bravery concessions is pointed out by police officers not only as an instrument of power and the formation of a group of allies in the corporation, but also as an electoral asset.
The report had access to a report prepared by the office of state deputy Flavio Serafini (PSOL) for the Alerj Public Servants Commission and sent to the Public Ministry of the State of Rio de Janeiro. According to a survey, in a year and a half of the Curi administration, 1,095 promotions were granted for bravery, an average of almost two per day (1.95).
The number is well above that of its predecessors since the Civil Police secretariat was created, in 2019, during the Wilson Witzel government. The total for the Curi era is almost 40% greater than the sum of the six secretaries that preceded him.
Curi said that there is no irregularity in the promotions for bravery that occurred during his administration and that the recognition is not made by the Secretary of Civil Police, but by the Superior Council of , a collegial body that carries out the trial after analyzing the person found in a specific inquiry for this purpose and observing the criteria defined by law.
It is a fact, but the secretary has control over the composition of the council, directly appointing or sponsoring the majority of members.
Curi also stated that the promotions for bravery published recently are the result, in many cases, of processes initiated in previous years, which were blocked due to the legislation of the Tax Recovery Regime. “With the change in understanding, my management was able to proceed with the requests, fulfilling the right of civil police officers. The entire process took place in strict accordance with applicable legislation, with transparency and legality.”
According to the study prepared by Serafini’s team, complementary law No. 204/2022, formulated under Allan Turnowski’s administration and which amends the Organic Law of the Civil Police, “consolidated subjective criteria and automatic promotions, facilitating political control over the career”.
“Promotion based on bravery controls career progression from the top. Police officers cannot be promoted based on seniority or merit, they can only do so if they have relationships with management, which is unfair and fuels the division into power groups within the police itself,” said Serafini.
The law amended in 2022 determines that occupants of the last class of each functional category, including delegates, who can no longer be promoted receive, in the case of new recognition for bravery, 20% more on the base salary and other benefits provided — the old rule said that the 20% only applied to the base salary.
The document prepared for the Alerj commission associates promotions for bravery with mega operations with a large number of deaths, such as those carried out in Jacarezinho and in the Penha and Alemão complexes. When asked about this, Curi did not respond on this point.
The report criticizes the fact that members of the police leadership benefited from the instrument, “including secretary Felipe Curi”. It is a reference to a promotion for bravery granted during his own administration, on November 25, 2025, a date on which he was away — it is signed by the acting secretary, Márcia Cristina Xavier Lopes, and grants him “an additional 20% of the effective position, since he occupies the last class of his functional category”.
The report asked Curi whether an act of self-promotion would not constitute administrative improbity and a violation of the principle of impersonality provided for in the Constitution. The delegate states that there was no self-promotion, as he was on vacation and that the process was led by his immediate replacement.
Curi had already received a promotion for bravery, for the operation that killed militiaman Ecko in 2021. The one in November refers to the arrest of militiaman Macaquinho, also in 2021, he informed the reporter — but the information is not included in the publication of the act, as is the case in many cases. “At the time, all the police officers involved in this arrest were promoted for bravery, and Curi was not,” said the note sent by his office.
The promotion, according to the delegate, “is only for the purpose of being included in your functional settlements folder, considering that it does not bring any financial return, and does not even appear on your paycheck.”
By law, the 20% increase is not cumulative in the case of new acts of bravery, but Curi’s paychecks record an increase in income from November 2025, according to data from the Rio de Janeiro Government Transparency portal.
During his entire period as secretary, Curi’s gross monthly income exceeded the constitutional ceiling for public service, of R$46,366.19.
When he took over as secretary, in September 2024, his gross income jumped from an average of R$45 thousand to, initially, amounts between R$55 thousand (Sep/24) and R$58.7 thousand (Oct/25). From November 2025, when Curi received a new promotion for bravery, the monthly amounts jumped to more than R$64 thousand (in Nov/25 they were R$66.4 thousand and in Mar/26, R$64.5 thousand).
Curi states that all salaries are legal. “This amount includes three years, additional service time, accumulated bonuses, including secretary bonuses, and promotions. During the time he was secretary, he accumulated bonuses for the position.”
Unions in the category criticize the granting of promotions for bravery without criteria and transparency. Sindelpol, made up of Civil Police delegates, had the crusade against the so-called “bravery spree” as one of the banners of the last administrations.
The current administration, chaired by delegate Eduardo Miranda, has opted for a more cautious stance, including the change in the head of the Executive — the acting governor is judge Ricardo Couto.
When contacted, Sindelpol issued a note stating that “promotion for bravery is an important instrument for valuing and recognizing police activity, especially given the risks inherent to the role” and defends the preservation of the institute, “but understands that its application must observe objective, transparent and impersonal criteria, with strict observance of the Organic Law of the Civil Police, in order to guarantee legitimacy, legal security and credibility to the mechanism itself.”
Retired police chief Orlando Zaccone, president of the Special Commission for the Security of Police Rights of the OAB-RJ, said that “the biggest problem with the trivialization of promotions based on bravery, which has gone from being the exception to the rule, is that the vast majority of police officers no longer get places to move up the career ladder.”
According to Zaccone, the other forms of promotions provided, such as seniority and merit, only occur when there are vacancies, which were mostly occupied by bravery promotions.
“We understand that only the transformation of promotion based on seniority into automatic promotion based on length of service can solve the problem, guaranteeing all police officers, agents and authorities the ability to reach the top of their career ladder until the moment of retirement.” He points out that this already occurs in the Rio PM, in the Federal Police and in the civil police of states such as São Paulo and Bahia.
The report from Serafini’s office recommends that the MP-RJ audit all promotions since 2019, break the confidentiality of processes in the SEI administrative system and file possible administrative improbity actions. And, to the State Attorney General’s Office, the suspension of undue payments, analysis of the budgetary impact on the Tax Recovery Regime and annulment of acts of self-promotion due to moral defects.
