The Police
If you are robbed or held up, it's not necessarily a good idea to go to the police . Except with something like a theft from a hotel room, they're very unlikely to be able to do anything, and reporting something can take hours even without the language barrier. You may have to do it for insurance purposes, when you'll need a local police report: this could take an entire, and very frustrating, day to get, so think first about how badly you want to be reimbursed. If your passport is stolen, go to your consulate first and they'll smooth the path. Stolen travellers' cheques are the least hassle if they're American Express: in Rio and Sao Paulo they take your word they've been stolen, and don't make you go to the police. If you have to deal with the police, there are various kinds. The best are usually the Policia de Turismo , or tourist police, who are used to tourists and their problems and often speak some English or French, but they're thin on the ground outside Rio. In a city, their number should be displayed on or near the desk of reasonable hotels. The most efficient police by far are the Policia Federal , the Brazilian equivalent of the American FBI, who deal with visas and their extension; they have offices at frontier posts, airports and ports and in state capitals. The ones you see on every street corner are the Policia Militar , with green uniforms and caps. They look mean - and very often are - but they generally leave gringos alone. There is also a plain-clothes Policia Civil , to whom thefts are reported if there is no tourist police post around - they are overworked, underpaid and extremely slow. If you decide to go to the police in a city where there is a consulate, get in touch with the consulate first and do as they tell you.
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