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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Amnesty Report Reveals Epidemic of Police Violence in Rio de Janeiro
On Feb. 24, 2014, a 31-year-old man turned into an alleyway on his way to his home in the Acari slum of Rio de Janeiro when he was struck by a bullet fired by Brazilian police. “You got me, you got me!” he shouted, as he fell to the ground. A police officer approached and said, “I haven’t got you yet. I want your soul!” The police officer then executed Gustavo, whose name has been changed to protect his family from police reprisals, with another round of gunfire.
The case of Gustavo is documented in a new report published Monday by Amnesty International that reveals an epidemic of police violence in Rio de Janeiro. In the 10-year period from 2005 to 2014, the human rights group documented 8,466 cases of police killings in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with 5,132 of those cases occurring in the city by the same name.
The violence appears to overwhelmingly target young black men. In cases of police operations that have resulted in deaths, 79 percent of victims have been black and 99 percent were men. And while more exact figures on victims’ ages were not available, Amnesty’s researchers estimated at least 75 percent of victims of lethal police violence were between 15 and 29.
According to Amnesty, this astounding level of police brutality — by comparison, police in England and Wales killed 55 people between 1990 and 1994 — stems from the policing strategies adopted by Brazilian authorities to combat the drug trade and clean up Rio de Janeiro, perhaps in part to prepare the city for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Rather than maintaining a regular police presence in the city’s slums, or favelas, which are home to marketplaces for drugs, police carry out sporadic raids ostensibly targeting drug traffickers, but frequently affecting innocent bystanders.
The drug trade is controlled by violent, heavily armed gangs, and Brazilian police have adopted a militarized approach in dealing with them, using heavy weapons and armored vehicles to carry out raids in densely populated areas. Residents of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas told Amnesty that the heavy, military-style rounds frequently penetrate residential walls, killing or severely injuring bystanders. Moreover, large numbers of witnesses recounted to Amnesty having seen police officers deny medical care to individuals injured by police fire.
For their part, police unions within the state of Rio de Janeiro argue that law enforcement officers face significant risks in taking on such groups. Between 2005 and 2014, 236 police officers there were killed in the line of duty, according to statistics cited by Amnesty.
But Rio police are also implicated in the trade they seek to suppress. Several residents told Amnesty that police receive kickbacks from drug traffickers in exchange for allowing their operations to continue.
In recent years, the number of individuals killed at the hands of police in the state of Rio de Janeiro has decreased, though Amnesty notes that the figures remain elevated compared to other countries.
Even as the total number of killings have decreased, Rio police continue to have near impunity in carrying out lethal operations. Amnesty found that of 220 investigations opened in 2011 to examine police killings in the city of Rio de Janeiro, 183 remained open in April 2015. In only one case was an officer charged. Overall, a mere 5 to 8 percent of homicides in Brazil are effectively investigated and prosecuted, according to one estimate cited by Amnesty.
Some of the tactics used by Rio’s police officers appear geared toward murdering suspects rather than arresting them. One such tactic is known as “Troy,” in which police stay behind in a favela after a raid to attack a suspect. “A large group of police officers, with various vehicles, enters the favela, making lots of noise, and then leaves. Except that a few officers stay behind in the favela, hiding in a house waiting for the traffickers to appear,” a police officer told Amnesty, describing the method. “It’s an execution tactic. No one wants to arrest anyone. It can’t even be called a tactic really, can it? But what’s the idea behind it? When the traffickers appear, the police officers who are hiding execute them.”
Amnesty also accuses Rio police of often altering crime scenes to justify the killing of unarmed civilians. On July 17, 2014, for example, police entered the Acari favela to carry out an operation. According to residents, they entered the neighborhood firing indiscriminately. One of those killed was Pedro Ivo, 19. The incident report detailing his death, claimed “packs of ammunition, various cartridges, narcotics and a notebook containing notes about drug dealing” were found on his body, according to Amnesty.
Pedro Ivo’s family vehemently denies this accusation. “He was so innocent, he didn’t do drugs; he didn’t use cocaine or marijuana,” his mother, Helena, told Amnesty. Pedro Ivo’s brother told Amnesty, “My brother had never touched a firearm, he’d never used drugs, he didn’t even drink.”
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images
Amnesty Report Reveals Epidemic of Police Violence in Rio de Janeiro
- BY ELIAS GROLL
- AUGUST 3, 2015 - 3:43 PM
- ELIAS.GROLL
- @ELIASGROLL
-
On Feb. 24, 2014, a 31-year-old man turned into an alleyway on his way to his home in the Acari slum of Rio de Janeiro when he was struck by a bullet fired by Brazilian police. “You got me, you got me!” he shouted, as he fell to the ground. A police officer approached and said, “I haven’t got you yet. I want your soul!” The police officer then executed Gustavo, whose name has been changed to protect his family from police reprisals, with another round of gunfire.
The case of Gustavo is documented in a new report published Monday by Amnesty International that reveals an epidemic of police violence in Rio de Janeiro. In the 10-year period from 2005 to 2014, the human rights group documented 8,466 cases of police killings in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with 5,132 of those cases occurring in the city by the same name.
The violence appears to overwhelmingly target young black men. In cases of police operations that have resulted in deaths, 79 percent of victims have been black and 99 percent were men. And while more exact figures on victims’ ages were not available, Amnesty’s researchers estimated at least 75 percent of victims of lethal police violence were between 15 and 29.
According to Amnesty, this astounding level of police brutality — by comparison, police in England and Wales killed 55 people between 1990 and 1994 — stems from the policing strategies adopted by Brazilian authorities to combat the drug trade and clean up Rio de Janeiro, perhaps in part to prepare the city for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Rather than maintaining a regular police presence in the city’s slums, or favelas, which are home to marketplaces for drugs, police carry out sporadic raids ostensibly targeting drug traffickers, but frequently affecting innocent bystanders.
The drug trade is controlled by violent, heavily armed gangs, and Brazilian police have adopted a militarized approach in dealing with them, using heavy weapons and armored vehicles to carry out raids in densely populated areas. Residents of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas told Amnesty that the heavy, military-style rounds frequently penetrate residential walls, killing or severely injuring bystanders. Moreover, large numbers of witnesses recounted to Amnesty having seen police officers deny medical care to individuals injured by police fire.
For their part, police unions within the state of Rio de Janeiro argue that law enforcement officers face significant risks in taking on such groups. Between 2005 and 2014, 236 police officers there were killed in the line of duty, according to statistics cited by Amnesty.
But Rio police are also implicated in the trade they seek to suppress. Several residents told Amnesty that police receive kickbacks from drug traffickers in exchange for allowing their operations to continue.
In recent years, the number of individuals killed at the hands of police in the state of Rio de Janeiro has decreased, though Amnesty notes that the figures remain elevated compared to other countries.
Even as the total number of killings have decreased, Rio police continue to have near impunity in carrying out lethal operations. Amnesty found that of 220 investigations opened in 2011 to examine police killings in the city of Rio de Janeiro, 183 remained open in April 2015. In only one case was an officer charged. Overall, a mere 5 to 8 percent of homicides in Brazil are effectively investigated and prosecuted, according to one estimate cited by Amnesty.
Some of the tactics used by Rio’s police officers appear geared toward murdering suspects rather than arresting them. One such tactic is known as “Troy,” in which police stay behind in a favela after a raid to attack a suspect. “A large group of police officers, with various vehicles, enters the favela, making lots of noise, and then leaves. Except that a few officers stay behind in the favela, hiding in a house waiting for the traffickers to appear,” a police officer told Amnesty, describing the method. “It’s an execution tactic. No one wants to arrest anyone. It can’t even be called a tactic really, can it? But what’s the idea behind it? When the traffickers appear, the police officers who are hiding execute them.”
Amnesty also accuses Rio police of often altering crime scenes to justify the killing of unarmed civilians. On July 17, 2014, for example, police entered the Acari favela to carry out an operation. According to residents, they entered the neighborhood firing indiscriminately. One of those killed was Pedro Ivo, 19. The incident report detailing his death, claimed “packs of ammunition, various cartridges, narcotics and a notebook containing notes about drug dealing” were found on his body, according to Amnesty.
Pedro Ivo’s family vehemently denies this accusation. “He was so innocent, he didn’t do drugs; he didn’t use cocaine or marijuana,” his mother, Helena, told Amnesty. Pedro Ivo’s brother told Amnesty, “My brother had never touched a firearm, he’d never used drugs, he didn’t even drink.”
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images
Amnesty Report Reveals Epidemic of Police Violence in Rio de Janeiro
