You know you are in Brazil when

You know you are in Brazil when people question the authenticity of a government agency website because it seems too well done for a government website.

There is a blogger in Niterói who blogs about all things Niterói. His most recent post lists all the locations (every neighborhood) and contact information for Military Police offices, kiosks (mini-offices), Civil Police offices, and the main training facility for the Military Police.

When he gets to directing readers to the new website for the 12th Battalion of the Military Police he offers a caution:

“A few months ago, they launched the website of the 12th Military Police Battalion (Niterói): www.12bpm.net, as well as an official Twitter feed. As the address is not “.gov” and the site is too well done, too much for a government agency (unfortunately so), we suspect its authenticity. We tried to contact the 12th Battalion by telephone, but no one answered.”

It's more likely they have a new, young computer wiz kid on staff and are exceeding expectation in the web design department.  The site looks a little too thorough for a practical joke.  But I guess local confidence is slow to catch up.