On March 12-14, FGV' São Paulo Law School welcomed worldwide public security experts for the workshop Comparative Approaches to Security Sector Reform - focusing on the criminal system debate in several nations.The short course was organized by the School along with Fapesp, the British Council, the University of Bradford, Fundação Seade and the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, and evaluated several topics related to safety reform. Among them, drug policy, analysis methodologies and information collection related to security, crime prevention, incarceration, female incarceration, migration, organized crime, police reform and the juvenile justice system. The coordinator of the Centre for Applied Legal Research (CPJA), José Reinaldo de Lima Lopes, defended the importance of the meeting with the objective of promoting a reflection that was not only legal, but combined with other spheres of knowledge. In his opinion, lawyers should help design and redesign the institutions - especially in Brazil, where security problems affect several segments of the population in different ways. The mortality rates of the Brazilian police, for example, are not consistent with a Democratic State of Law, said the professor.In Fiona Macauliy, from the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, the SSR (Security Sector Reform) concept is very recent and offers a rich research agenda in Brazil - which is rarely used compared to the international system. The researcher analyzes that a SSR needs to be effective, not very expensive and involve accountability. Besides, it should follow important principles, including the involvement of affected communities, to know what they think of the institutions responsible for security. It is a political process, above all.Renato Sérgio de Lima, coordinator of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety and the research line on the topic at CPJA, also emphasized the importance of operating research networks and discuss reform proposals that could serve as a basis for comparative studies. Although the present scholars experienced very different situations in their countries, it is possible to think of a common research agenda, said the expert.