The paper focuses on the separation and differentiation between the police and the armed forces and the establishment of civilian and democratic control over the police since the transition to democracy in 1985. It posits that democratic governments have failed to separate and differentiate the armed forces and the police and to consolidate civilian and democratic control over the police. Civil society has played an important but still limited role in the reform and demilitarization of the public security system. The incomplete separation and differentiation between the armed forces and the police and the uncertainty regarding civilian and democratic control over the police have contributed to the persistence of police violence and police ineffectiveness in law enforcement and order maintenance and have undermined the policies and programs to control crime and violence and consolidate the democratic regime. The paper highlights the impact of institutional and political factors on the structure and functioning of the public security system. It also highlights the ways in which the nature of the preceding authoritarian regime and the mode of transition to democracy have shaped institutional and political arrangements and the structure of the public security system under the democratic regime. Tables, references, notes