Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro police involved in 21% of recorded fatalities in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – One in every 5 records of fatalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro through July this year had the involvement of civil or state police officers.

Data from the State Civil Police Secretariat collected through the Access to Information Law show that of the 2,510 records that resulted in fatal victims, 532 – approximately 21% – had the involvement or authorship of civil or state police officers.

As in each occurrence more than one death can be reported, the total of 532 events that resulted in deaths caused by state agents resulted in approximately 959 victims.

Sociologist and public security expert José Ignácio Cano pointed out the excessive use of force in the state of Rio de Janeiro. “For as long as the population continues to elect politicians who say that a good criminal is a dead criminal and advocate shooting people in the head, this is not going to change,” said Cano.

Cano explains that the acceptable number of police involvement in deaths is between 5% and 10%. Rio de Janeiro doubles this figure in records, much more so in the number of victims.

Furthermore, police violence in certain areas of the state is in stark contrast to others. Baixada Fluminense, the outlying suburbs of the capital, holds the highest number of records with fatalities and police involvement. Next comes the northern part of the capital.

According to Cano, this figure can be explained by the power dynamics of the state’s territories and by the lack of a public view “beyond the violence” for these areas. “Historically, Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone is controlled by militias, and police officers do not exchange gunfire with militiamen. In the South Zone, it would be unacceptable to have shootings in wealthy neighborhoods.”

Of all the records with fatalities involving police officers, only 56 were registered as intentional homicides statewide. The vast majority are registered as “death by intervention of a state agent.”

Cano explains that the practice of “autos de resistência” (resisting arrest), which are ultimately deaths caused by the intervention of a state agent, was created during the military dictatorship and justifies and excuses police crimes to this day.

“The terminology has changed, but the practice is the same. A person who is killed by a police officer is immediately considered a criminal and the chances of an investigation that will incriminate the police officer who committed the crime are virtually nonexistent,” the sociologist said.