Photography: Eva Zielinski-Millar©

June 23, 2015 Solvang, California: The Commander of the Police Academy of the State of São Paulo, Colonel José Mauricio Perez had the honor of being awarded by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with a certificate that celebrated efforts to eliminate violence in the treatment of citizens in São Paulo, Brazil. The act of Her Majesty had immediate and positive repercussions in Brazil with the media.

Colonel Perez said he had learned the Join-Up® principles after reading Monty Roberts’ book, The Man Who Listens to Horses, presented to him by the captain responsible for the cavalry regiment of the academy. He decided to adopt the philosophy of Join-Up in the training of cadets. A student of Monty Roberts, Eduardo Moreira, wrote the bestseller Life Whisperers based on his experience learning from Roberts, and was asked to make a speech for a group of 500 cadets at the academy.



Colonel Perez came to the belief that by eliminating all forms of violence in the training of the students, he would contribute for a more humanitarian, capable and transformative police force. The news was delivered by Eduardo Moreira to Monty who traveled to Brazil to see for himself the Colonel’s impact. Through that academy, 100,000 police officers could be positively impacted, resulting in a less violent environment for more than 40 million people, the population of São Paulo. Monty was delighted with what he saw.



Monty immediately took the story to the attention the person who had asked him almost three decades ago to transform the world through the Join-Up message: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen recognized that the seed she planted was blooming like never before that would reverberate forever the legacy and mission. The awarding of the certificate took place June 16 at Windsor Castle in private ceremonies attended by Her Majesty, Monty Roberts, Colonel Perez, Eduardo Moreira and Eduardo’s wife Juliana Baroni.