Robberies and thefts in São Paulo’s ‘crackland’ drop 19% in the second week of April

Robberies and thefts in the “Cracolândia” region in downtown São Paulo fell by 19% between April 10 and 16 compared with the previous week.

The result comes after a 30% reinforcement in ostensive and preventive policing and an intensification of investigations.

The finding was made through the Central Region Criminal Diagnosis – Open Scenes of Use, a new tool the São Paulo Government created to increase the data transparency, besides analyzing and elaborating public policies.

The entire population can access the platform through the Secretariat of Public Safety (SSP) website.

According to the folder, robberies, and thefts have been dropping weekly.

Concerning robberies, 160 cases were registered between March 27 and April 2.

The following week, from April 3 to 9, the reduction was 22%, with 150 cases.

In the last week, 136 robberies were registered in the central region, a decrease of 9%.

Thefts followed the same trend: in the first week of April, 311 incidents were registered, while in the second week, there were 242 cases: a reduction of 22%.

Last week, there were 183 thefts, a decrease of 24% compared to the previous week.

The Secretariat of Public Safety has intensified the fight against criminality in the so-called open scenes of drug use in the central region.

Today, there are more than 120 police officers on the streets; in addition to the existing area policing, 80 men are on motorcycles alone.

Because of this, in the first quarter of the year, 1,861 people were arrested in the central region of São Paulo, an increase of 53% compared to last year.

Last week alone, 39 people were arrested.

Nevertheless, according to an analysis made by SSP, 34% of those arrested for theft and 57% for receiving stolen goods in the first months of the year in the central region of São Paulo returned to the streets in the following days.

An example is what happened with ten suspects arrested for theft during the week of April 10-16.

Only three were remanded in custody; the other six were released.

With this diagnosis, the Secretary of Public Safety has held meetings with the Judiciary to find solutions together.

One of them was the creation of the Information System and Prevention of Criminal Reiteration (SP Recrim), which will gather information about arrests, criminal records, processes, and investigative procedures, among other data.

With the information collected by the system, through a Cooperation Agreement signed with the Judiciary, the Court can be notified by the Military Police about crimes committed by convicts in the open regime.

With this, the Justice will gain subsidies to decide whether or not to revert the sentence.

Moreover, through a partnership between the SSP and the Penitentiary Administration Secretariat (SAP), about 200 electronic anklets are being made available so that the judges responsible for the custody hearings in the capital can determine the electronic monitoring of the processed ones who are released after the hearings.

The goal is to help prevent criminal recidivism, including for offenders arrested for domestic violence.

With information from Gazeta Brasil