Due to the nature of crime in favelas, BOPE units utilize equipment deemed more powerful than traditional civilian law enforcement, and have extensive experience in urban warfare as well as progression in confined and restricted environments.

The BOPE Currently perform a number of roles, including: The force has a fleet of armoured fighting vehicles, which are known as "Pacificador" ("Peacemaker"), or "Caveirão" ("Big Skull") and one UH-1 Huey.

They are equipped with heavy armament: loopholes for IMBEL MD-2, Brazilian version of the Belgian FAL rifle, or HK G3, and in front and behind .50 caliber machine guns.

These cause violations of fundamental rights of large parts of the population on a regular basis",[10] and attributes a certain number of killed civilians to BOPE in particular.

It describes BOPE as a "killing machine" and details an alleged aborted assassination attempt by some police officers on then-governor Leonel Brizola.

BOPE is featured on Season 1, Episode 2 of Elite World Cops, a television show hosted by former SAS soldier and author Chris Ryan.