All federated units adopted the term, with the exception of Rio Grande do Sul, which still maintains the name Military Brigade (Portuguese: Brigada Militar) in its police force.

[6] The first militarized police in Portugal (when Brazil was still a colony) was the Royal Police Guard of Lisbon (Portuguese: Guarda Real de Polícia de Lisboa), established in 1801;[7] which was followed by the model of the National Gendarmerie (French: Gendarmerie Nationale) of France, created in 1791.

This danger to national security remained until the end of World War II, with the deposition of the dictatorial government of Getúlio Vargas.

[12] The Secretariat for Public Security (Secretaria de Segurança Pública—SSP) supervises all state police activities.

[13] The SSPs are subordinate to the National Council of Public Security (Conselho Nacional de Segurança Pública - CONASP).

[13] Arms and equipment of state forces include machine guns and armored cars, in addition to other items generally associated with police.

[13] Firefighting is also a Military Police function[13] in some states, but they are organized in separate units called Corpo de Bombeiros Militar.

The battalions are based in major urban centers, and their companies and platoons are distributed according to population density in cities.

In 1903 the Brazilian Army opted for khaki colored field uniforms, later copied by the Military Police.

Analysis by the Federal Government of the ratio of resident population to the number of official Military Police in 2003 shows that the proportion is quite varied among the states.

[16] In situations of serious disturbance of public order that exceeds the capacity of the States, their Governors can request assistance from the Federal Government.

To work in such situations, the Ministry of Justice has the National Public Security Force (Portuguese: Força Nacional de Segurança Pública; FNSP), a national gendarmeire composed of selected MP personnel and constables from state military police commands.

[17]It is part of the Land Operations Command (Portuguese: Comando de Operações Terrestres) - COTER and its mission is: