INTRODUCTION:
Faced with alarming indicators of urban violence, Brazil has changed its approach to public security, moving from an inertial method based on improvisation and focused merely on visible policing, to a paradigm based on planning and good management oriented towards results and evidence of what works. From 1988 onwards, the state of Espírito Santo (ES) joined the group of the five most violent Federative Units (UFs) in the country, from which it exited in 2013 with the "Present State" Program. The objective of this work is to present and disseminate this strategic experience that impacted the number of homicides in areas with greater social vulnerability in a Brazilian state.

METHODS:
This is a descriptive study on the experience/intervention of the "Present State" Program in the state of Espírito Santo, between 2011 and 2024, based on document analysis and official violence indicators.

RESULTS:
Created in 2011, the "Present State" Program focused on regions that concentrated more than 50% of intentional lethal crimes and that comprised a large part of the population in situations of risk and social vulnerability, and included three priority actions: 1) Infrastructure; 2) Police protection; and 3) Social protection. The prioritization of actions and projects aimed at confronting lethal violence and primary prevention was highlighted, based on expanding access to health, education, culture, employment, income, and citizenship. It is noteworthy that the discontinuation of the Program, starting in 2017, has negatively impacted current violence indicators in the state.

CONCLUSIONS:
The results achieved so far do not consolidate their pioneering nature on their own. It is, above all, the product of a historical context of multidisciplinary and intersectoral actions, in the persistent pursuit, since 2011, of reducing the number of homicides in areas with greater social vulnerability, ensuring the rights of this social group.