It organizes and promotes permanent and temporary exhibitions of documents and items that portray the activities of Civil Police in the history of Rio de Janeiro since colonial times.

The museum is headquartered in a French eclectic style building constructed in 1910 by the architect Heitor de Mello.

[1][2] The museum is divided into collections related to: The museum also contains materials confiscated from the fascist Brazilian Integralism movement; items related to the Nazi movement in Brazil, specifically flags, streamers, and "children's shoes with a swastika cross design"; and printed materials confiscated from the Brazilian Communist Party.

[2] The Museum Collection of Black Magic (Portuguese: Coleção Museu de Magia Negra) was formed at the Civil Police Museum in the 1920s to house religious objects related to Afro-Brazilian religions, specifically those of Candomblé and Umbanda traditions.

The police were charged with the suppression of baixo espiritismo, or low spiritism under the revised penal code of the First Republic; anti-sorcery and witchcraft statutes were issued on 11 October 1890.