There is no doubt that Brasil has a bad image in relation to crime. Here on the island, with lots of apparently empty properties, we suffer occasionally from burglaries and robberies.

There are many police forces in Brasil, but here we are interested in 2 - the military and the civil. The former react to emergencies and civil disorder (in Brasil??!!!), and the latter are plain clothed, but armed, investigators of crime. Being an island with one 400m bridge to the mainland theoretically this gives us the ability to control ingress and egress with ease.

Last week the British resident community here (all 3 of us), plus a bunch of locals, island businessmen, politicians, police, etc were all invited to the State Governor's Palace in Recife, an hours drive away, to discuss security and safety issues.

All points of view were expressed and listened to, in a very polite and sensibly reasoned discussion (with translations), with the final conclusion that, for the first time, the 2 police forces will work together to a common aim, and will receive the additional resources they seek. Dates were set for this - none being tomorrow, and we do not hold our breath!

It may have been helped that the Chair of the meeting owns a property here, and reports directly to the State Governor, and the Brits have a healthy respect for the police forces and know individual members well.

Nevertheless it made Pernambuco TV news, many locals stepped forward to answer a call for witnesses, and the next day several arrests were made and stolen property returned from as far away as 2 hours drive on the mainland. Incidentally crimes against foreigners here are regarded as more serious than against Brasilians.

I only post this as this thread is specific to the island, but it is possibly symbolic of what the country as a whole may strive to achieve in the long term... I will be interested to see if any of my Brasilian resident colleagues elsewhere read this thread and want to comment.

And I believe there is is still a far greater risk of your teenage kids being stabbed to death in London, New York, Miami, Paris, Liverpool, Berlin, etc, etc.