PCSP Investigador de Polícia cheat sheet

Text interpretation: the correct answer must be verifiable in the text; any claim requiring outside knowledge or personal opinion is wrong by definition.

Inference vs. presupposition: inference is a conclusion drawn from explicit data; presupposition is information the utterance treats as already given (e.g., "parou de" presupposes prior action).

Cohesion vs. coherence: cohesion is the surface chain of pronouns, conjunctions and lexical repetition; coherence is the global semantic unity of the text.

Pronoun placement (próclise) is obligatory with preverbal negative words (não, nunca, jamais), adverbs (sempre, já), indefinites (alguém, ninguém) and subordinating conjunctions (que, se, quando).

Mesanclise occurs only in specific cases: infinitive governed by "para" or "por" (para se defender), and certain literary or formal constructions; never after a future or conditional verb of the main clause.

Ênclise is standard when the verb opens the sentence or follows a pause/comma; a sentence may not begin with an unstressed oblique pronoun ("Me disse" is nonstandard; "Disse-me").

Accent rules: proparoxytones always accented; paroxytones accented when ending in -r, -l, -n, -x, -ps, -ã(s), -ão(s), -um/uns, -i(s), -us, -ei(s), -oi(s); oxytones ending in -a(s), -e(s), -o(s), -em/ens accented.

Verbal agreement with "haver" and "existir": haver is impersonal (Havia muitos casos); existir agrees (Existiam muitos casos). "Fazer" indicating time is impersonal (Faz dez anos).

Regency traps: assistir a (to watch), visar a (to aim at), aspirar a (to aspire to), obedecer a, implicar (transitive direct, no preposition), preferir X a Y (never "mais que").

Propositions are declarative sentences with a single truth value; questions, commands and exclamations are not propositions, and ambiguous or context-dependent sentences are excluded.

Conditional p→q is false only when p is true and q is false; its contrapositive ~q→~p is logically equivalent, while its converse q→p and inverse ~p→~q are not.

De Morgan: ~(p∧q) ≡ ~p∨~q and ~(p∨q) ≡ ~p∧~q; negation of "all A are B" is "some A is not B".

Validity vs. soundness: a valid argument's conclusion follows from the premises; a sound argument is valid and has all true premises.

Counting: permutations P(n,k)=n!/(n−k)! when order matters; combinations C(n,k)=n!/[k!(n−k)!] when order does not; addition rule for mutually exclusive cases, multiplication rule for successive stages.

Probability: P(A∪B)=P(A)+P(B)−P(A∩B); independent events satisfy P(A∩B)=P(A)·P(B); conditional P(A|B)=P(A∩B)/P(B).

Percentage and variation: successive increases of a% then b% yield a factor (1+a/100)(1+b/100); a rise then equal fall never returns to the original value.

Arithmetic progressions: aₙ=a₁+(n−1)r and Sₙ=n(a₁+aₙ)/2; geometric: aₙ=a₁·q^(n−1) and Sₙ=a₁(qⁿ−1)/(q−1) for q≠1.

Data analysis: mean is sensitive to outliers, median and mode are not; standard deviation measures dispersion around the mean, not central tendency.

Fundamental rights apply immediately (art. 5º, §1º, CF); their limits are set by law but may never abolish the essential core (principle of proportionality and prohibition of retrogression).

Fundamental duties and rights are not absolute: proportionality analysis weighs adequacy, necessity and strict proportionality of any restriction.

Remedies (art. 5º): habeas corpus for freedom of movement, habeas data for personal information, mandado de segurança for liquid and certain rights, mandado de injunção for lack of regulation, ação popular for acts harmful to public property.

Public administration principles (art. 37, caput): legality, impersonality, morality, publicity and efficiency; the express inclusion of efficiency came with EC 19/1998.

Administrative acts carry presumption of legitimacy and enforceability; self-executing acts (autoexecutáveis) need no court order, unlike those requiring judicial enforcement.

Administrative improbity (Law 8.429/1992, as amended by Law 14.230/2021) now requires proven intent (dolo), including in the modalities of illicit enrichment and harm to the treasury.

Public civil servants are liable civilly, administratively and criminally (art. 37, §6º, CF); the State has strict objective liability toward third parties and may regress against the agent in case of intent or fault.

Treaties on human rights approved by each house twice, in two turns, by three-fifths of members are equivalent to constitutional amendments (art. 5º, §3º); other human rights treaties have supralegal status.

Crime elements: typical fact (conduct, result, causal link, typicality), illegality and culpability; absence of any element excludes the crime or the penalty.

Exclusion of illegality: self-defense, necessity, strict compliance with legal duty, regular exercise of a right; exclusion of culpability: error of prohibition, inexigibility of other conduct, minority.

Causal link uses the conditio sine qua non theory (equivalence of antecedents), limited by the objective imputation criterion of risk creation and scope of the protected norm.

Attempt (art. 14, II) reduces the penalty by one to two thirds; the reduction is greater the closer the agent came to consummation.

Prescription: the limitation period is set by the maximum penalty in abstract (art. 109, CP) and runs from consummation, from the last act of execution in attempt, or from the day the crime ceased for continuing crimes.

Inquiry (inquérito policial) is inquisitorial, written, discretionary in its conduct and dispensable for the criminal action; its indiciamento requires sufficient evidence of authorship and materiality.

Chain of custody (art. 158-A to 158-F, CPP) must be documented from collection to disposal; breach must be justified and may affect the evidentiary weight, not automatically nullify the evidence.

Illegal evidence is inadmissible, as are derived evidences unless an independent source or inevitable discovery applies (fruits of the poisonous tree doctrine, art. 157, §1º, CPP).

Preventive detention (art. 312, CPP) requires evidence of materiality, indicia of authorship and one of its grounds: guarantee of public order, economic order, criminal procedure convenience, or application of criminal law.

Criminalistics object: the trace, the evidence and the crime scene; the Locard exchange principle states every contact leaves a reciprocal trace.

Crime scene preservation: isolate, record, collect and package; entry is restricted to authorized personnel and the scene must be documented before any removal.

Evidence types: material (objects), documentary, testimonial, and digital; each requires specific collection and storage protocols to preserve integrity.

Fingerprints rely on friction ridge patterns (arch, loop, whorl) and on twelve to twenty minutiae points for reliable identification, depending on the standard adopted.

Ballistics identifies firearms by rifling marks, firing pin, extractor and ejector impressions; the comparison uses test-fired cases matched to the questioned evidence.

Forensic genetics: autosomal STRs for individual identification, Y-STR for male lineage, mitochondrial DNA for maternal lineage and degraded samples; contamination control is critical.

Toxicology: blood alcohol concentration and postmortem redistribution affect interpretation; confirmatory tests (e.g., chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry) are required over screening.

Documentoscopy examines handwriting, inks and paper; entomology estimates postmortem interval from insect succession and larval development under temperature data.

Expert report (art. 158 CPP) answers technical questions; the expert may be replaced, and the judge is not bound by the report but must justify any divergence (art. 182 CPP).

Drug Law 11.343/2006: art. 28 (personal use) has no prison penalty but applies measures; arts. 33 and 35 cover production, trafficking and association, with penalty increases for interstate or international commerce.

Threshold distinction between user and trafficker is not defined by quantity alone; the law requires evidence of destination for trade (art. 28, §2º).

Weapons Law 10.826/2003 (Statute of Disarmament): possession (art. 12), illegal carrying (art. 14), and commerce (art. 17); registry and authorization are administered through the federal system.

Organized crime: Law 12.850/2013 defines criminal organization as four or more persons structurally ordered for indefinite crimes; collaboration award (colaboração premiada) requires effective and voluntary cooperation with concrete results.

Money laundering: Law 9.613/1998 lists antecedent offenses, covers concealment of assets and the three-stage cycle (placement, layering, integration); the COAF receives suspicious operation reports.

Torture: Law 9.455/1997 (art. 1º, I and II) covers coercion by physical or psychological means, with aggravated penalties when committed by public agents or resulting in death.

Heinous crimes (Law 8.072/1990) include torture, drug trafficking, terrorism, and hideous crimes; they carry harsher execution rules, and the constitutional limits on prison progress must be observed.

Domestic violence: Law 11.340/2006 (Maria da Penha) creates protective measures and specialized courts; the crime of bodily injury in this context is processed regardless of the victim's representation.

Interception of communications: Law 9.296/1996 requires judicial authorization, evidence of materiality, and the absence of other means; it is not admissible for merely civil matters.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948): civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are interdependent and indivisible.

American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José, 1969): rights to life, personal liberty, fair trial, and the principle of non-refoulement; the Inter-American Court has contentious and advisory jurisdiction.

Use of force: legality, necessity, proportionality and precaution; lethal force is limited to defense against an imminent threat of death or serious injury (UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force).

Arrest and detention: the person must be informed of the reasons, may remain silent, and has the right to a lawyer and to communicate with family; the custody hearing within 24 hours (art. 306 CPP) is mandatory.

Prohibition of torture is absolute and non-derogable; confessions obtained under torture are void and cannot be used as evidence.

Public security (art. 144, CF) is a duty of the State, a right and a responsibility of all; police bodies include federal, highway, railway, civil, military and municipal (limited to local security).

Citizenship rights include the right to petition, to information, and to public transparency (Law 12.527/2011); ombudsman and external control bodies oversee police activity.

Combating racism: Law 7.716/1989 defines crimes of prejudice based on race, color, ethnicity, religion or national origin; the practice of racism is non-bailable and imprescriptible (art. 5º, XLII, CF).

Victim protection: Law 13.431/2017 establishes the rights of child and adolescent victims or witnesses of violence, including the depoimento especial procedure.

Digital evidence principles: integrity, authenticity, chain of custody and reproducibility; hashing (SHA-256) before and after analysis proves non-alteration.

Forensic image (bit-by-bit copy) preserves deleted data and metadata; the analysis is performed on the copy, never on the original device.

Volatile data (RAM, network connections, running processes) must be captured before shutdown; powering off may destroy relevant traces.

Chain of custody for digital evidence records the collector, date/time, tool used, hash value and every transfer.

Logs and metadata (timestamps, IP, MAC, geolocation) are useful but can be altered; corroboration with independent sources is required.

Encryption and steganography may hide content; lawful technical assistance and judicial authorization (arts. 22 to 24 of Marco Civil, Law 12.965/2014) govern access to records.

Marco Civil da Internet (Law 12.965/2014): connection and application records must be retained for six months; access requires judicial order in civil and criminal matters.

Computer crimes: Law 12.737/2012 (invasion of device) and Law 14.155/2021 (aggravated fraud by electronic means); the Budapest Convention guides international cooperation.

Forensic tools (e.g., write blockers, hashing utilities) must be validated; documentation of tool version and methodology supports court acceptance.

Public service ethics: legality, impersonality, morality, publicity and efficiency apply to every police act, including informal contacts and documentation.

Corruption offenses include passive corruption (soliciting or receiving undue advantage) and active corruption (offering); both are covered by the Penal Code and by administrative improbity rules.

Use of force must be lawful, necessary and proportional; the officer is accountable for excessive force even during legitimate operations.

Secrecy of investigation: information on ongoing inquiries is restricted; disclosure may constitute a crime (art. 325, Penal Code, violation of functional secrecy).

Impartiality prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, origin or social condition; bias undermines evidence and institutional credibility.

Report writing must be factual, chronological and free of opinion; the officer records what was observed, heard and done, with times and names.

Whistleblowing and internal control: ombudsman channels and internal affairs receive complaints; retaliation against complainants is prohibited.

Institutional doctrine: police activity is subordinate to law and to human rights, with the citizen as the protected party, not the enemy; community policing reinforces legitimacy.

Discipline: administrative misconduct is processed with due process, broad defense and contradictory; sanctions range from warning to dismissal, depending on gravity.