CAT/C/39/2 page 18 corregedor can be removed at any point. Upon completion of their mandates, it is apparently not uncommon that persons who have previously acted as ouvidor or corregedor find themselves working under someone whom they might have previously denounced for torture during their tenure. To aggravate matters, the ouvidorias have no budgetery autonomy, being financially dependent on the State. 51. NGOs also denounced the lack of independence of the forensic institutes reporting to the Secretary of Public Security, who is also responsible for the police forces, a situation which exacerbates the sense of impunity in cases of torture. 52. It was reported that it is unusual for accused police officers to be suspended from their duties pending the outcome of the investigation, and any subsequent legal or disciplinary proceedings. At most, those under investigation are transferred to another location. 53. It was also explained to the Committee that, although the Brazilian Constitution established the Public Prosecutor’s Office as an independent organ which has the control of police activity amongst its responsibilities, in practice in most states the Public Prosecutor’s Offices do not perform these functions. In the majority of states and even in states where prosecutors carry out investigations of certain cases directly, it is the police itself, through its corregedorias or through police investigations, which is responsible for inquires into alleged practice of torture by the police. 54. Reportedly, there have been no significant improvements concerning abusive practices by the police. In this connection, NGOs drew attention to the practice known as “the generic search and apprehension warrant” which is apparently common in Rio de Janeiro and allegedly led to abuses by the police. This warrant consists of a judicial order that allows the police to inspect any establishment or residence within a specific area, district etc. In addition, the Committee received information that the Civil Police’s Station for the Protection of the Child and Adolescent has conducted a temporary arrest and removal compaign, since November 2004, denoted “Operation Secure Tourism” (Operaçao Turismo Seguro). Rights groups contend that this operation has entailed the arbitrary targeting of children and adolescents deemed “suspicious” or “abandoned” primarily on the streets of Rio de Janeiro’s affluent Zona Sul district. According to NGO sources, police have apprehended, registered and catalogued these children and adolescents at police stations, after which the children and adolescents are removed to city shelters and given the option of leaving. A human rights group in Rio de Janeiro has challenged the constitutionality of this practice, and the matter is still pending before the Supreme Federal Tribunal.28 28 See e.g. Judgments 2004.059.06263 - Habeas Corpus, Desembargador Nilza Bitar, Secao Criminal, Tribunal de Justicia do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, 20 July 2005.