GOE (Brazil)

Grupamento de Operações Especiais (Portuguese for Special Operations Group), mostly known by its acronym GOE, is the elite arm of the Civil Police of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is comparable to Rio de Janeiro's CORE.

Founded in 1991, GOE serves to assist conventional police units in high-risk operations involving hostages and uprisings in the prison system. It is subordinate to the Departamento de Polícia Judiciária da Capital ("Judicial Capital Police Department") - DECAP. In 2005 they moved to new headquarters in Campo Belo in the southern zone of São Paulo which contains infrastructure appropriate to their role as a special forces group. They recently distinguished themselves by imprisoning Lebanese Citizen Rana Koleilat, who was a fugitive in Brazil. She was involved in schemes that led to defrauding investors of funds. The São Paulo GOE has about 200 members, a fleet of 60 vehicles, 5 tactical subdivisions, as well as a specialized Delta unit with its own intelligence service and plain-clothes police and unmarked cars, as well as administrative divisions.

Over the years GOE has served as the model for various other tactical units of the same name, throughout São Paulo state and in other states in the federation. Having carried out innumerable successful tactical actions, the São Paulo GOE has established itself as one of the largest and best police special forces units in Brazil.