The Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State Military Police) is a law enforcement agency (Military Police (Brazil)) of the military kind in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is the largest state police force in the country, with over 100,000 personnel in its ranks, distributed across several battalions all over the state as well as within the Greater São Paulo region (Grande São Paulo) which itself comprises 40 cities and towns. Despite being called "Military Police", it should not be confused with the Military Police for the Armed Forces, which are the Army Police (Brazil) (Polícia do Exército), the Air Force Police (Polícia da Aeronáutica) and the Police Company of the Naval Battalion (Companhia de Polícia do Batalhão Naval). Its role is rather more similar to the state defense forces and National Guard in the United States. The first militarized police in Portugal (when Brazil was still a colony) was the Royal Guard of the Lisbon Police (Portuguese: Guarda Real de Polícia de Lisboa), established in 1801, which followed the model of the National Gendarmerie (French: Gendarmerie Nationale) of France, created in 1791. In Brazil, State Military Police Officers are considered military personnel by the Brazilian constitution, however, they perform police duties among civilian populations. It certain cases, they can also act as reserve forces for the Brazilian Army. Under the United Nations, in cooperation with the Brazilian Army, the Military Police of São Paulo State has served in Angola, Mozambique, East-Timor, Sudan, and Haiti. Mission and organization Its primary function is to perform the patrolling of public places such as city streets, state highways and forests in the entire state and also authority escorting, intelligence and reconnaissance (P2) and crime prevention duties. São Paulo Fire Fighters belongs to PMESP and are equally structured as a state police organization. The PMESP is further divided into specialized units as follows: Police Cavalry Regiment "July 9th" is one of the most traditional Units of the Military Police of São Paulo State. Actually, it dates from the origins of the militia in the State, because when the Permanent Municipal Guard was created, on December 15, 1831, by the Brigadier Rafael Tobias de Aguiar, thirty men were designated for making up a "Cavalry Section". Nowadays, the Regiment "July 9th" is a special organ of execution, under the Command of Conflict Policing, aiming at preserving the public order in the