E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2 page 34 order to give the media time to arrive at the police station so that they could record and publicize the arrest of suspected criminals. In these circumstances, detainees complained of having been portrayed as criminals rather than suspects by both the police and the media. Some alleged that they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated and threatened by arresting officers in order to make them confess in front of the media to the crimes for which they had been arrested. 97. Despite the legal safeguards against arbitrary arrest, it is reported that both the civil and military police routinely make arrests outside the legal limitations. Arrests in flagrante seem to be widely resorted to. It appears, from testimonies received by the Special Rapporteur, that there is a tendency to carry out arrests later classified as in flagrante even when the individual is not actually caught in the act, but there is a strong suspicion that he/she took part in criminal activities. Persons of African descent or from marginalized groups seem to be particularly affected by this phenomenon. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur received a number of allegations according to which police had planted criminal evidence, such as weapons or narcotics, on persons allegedly arrested in flagrante. B. Criminal investigations 98. Brazil is one of the few countries in Latin America maintaining the institution of a preliminary criminal investigation carried out by the alone. The civil police carry out the police inquiry which may be initiated by written order of the police authority, at the request of the victim, or by order of a judge or the public prosecutor’s office. Pursuant to article 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, inquiries must be opened when the police have been informed of a possible violation of the Penal Code. The prosecutor can require the police to conduct additional investigations at any time. The decision of the prosecutor on whether to prosecute is based on the results of such a police investigation. Owing to the rota system of work (a 24-hour shift followed by 48 hours off duty) and the consequent lack of continuity, there is no one police officer or delegado responsible for the full police investigation, which is said by NGOs and some public prosecutors to pose serious problems with respect to the quality of the investigation. 99. This system has been blamed not only for the poor quality of investigations but also because it fosters abuses by the police in carrying out the investigations. In January 2000 the São Paulo State Secretariat for Public Security reportedly presented a proposal to Congress for constitutional reform that would replace the police preliminary investigation with an investigation stage led by the prosecutor and controlled by a sort of investigating judge. Only confessions made before the investigating judge would be admissible and anyone subjected to provisional detention would have to be brought before him/her after a 24-hour period. According to the information received by the Special Rapporteur during meetings with representatives of civil society, this proposal, even though supported by the Government, has encountered strong resistance from the police.13 100. During his visit to police stations, the Special Rapporteur noted that there seems to be a practice among the police of using the procedure for the investigation of heinous crimes rather than an equally applicable procedure for ordinary crime investigations to prevent bail14 being granted, even though the indictment subsequently issued by the judge may be for a non-serious crime. For example, a number of persons detained said that they were under investigation for drug trafficking (article 12 of the Penal Code) whereas they claimed that they had been caught