Rio de Janeiro’s police killed a record number of people in three months

Ironically, Rio de Janeiro is considered one of the safest capitals in Brazil [1]. The absolute numbers are high, but that&#x27;s a huge city with millions of habitants.<p>I lived there for 27 years in favelas like Rocinha and Santa Marta (when I didn&#x27;t have money), and in apartments in Botafogo and Flamengo (after making money). I walked on the streets midnight and later. Nothing has ever happened to me. I&#x27;ve never even witnessed anything.<p>Of course, it&#x27;s my own experience and I have some privileges.<p>The only time I was robbed in my life I was in the US. My computer has been stolen in the Houston International Airport (thankfully, it was recovered by a super professional Mexican police officer).<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;thebrazilbusiness.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;the-10-safest-state-capitals-in-brazil" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;thebrazilbusiness.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;the-10-safest-state-ca...</a>

Just posting this here in reply to a comment whose thread was flagged. Context is &quot;whose definition of criminal should we use&quot;.<p>How about &quot;people openly flaunting assault weapons&quot;? As someone who lived in Rio most of their life, I think that&#x27;s a good line to draw. Opinions filled with &quot;human rights&quot; concerns from people far removed are probably ethically and morally correct, which is... cute.<p>We&#x27;re fighting an Urban War over here. This is a Concrete Jungle. This is a crazy post-apocalyptic situation to which most people in Rio grew accustomed to while most people outside Rio can barely picture.<p>As a police officer once told my wife as she was leaving her house in Rocinha and stopped to be patted down and inquired why was she being selected:<p>– Mam, do you know where you are? You are not in in Los Angeles. You are not in Paris.<p>My moral qualms went out the window around the same time my grandmother was murdered by being thrown off a bridge in Aterro do Flamengo.

I&#x27;m surprised that the article didn&#x27;t mention the recent news story where the Brazilian army (currently also tasked with policing duty in Rio de Janeiro) fired 80(!!) rounds at a passing car, murdering a musician and and wounding his wife and children. A passerby who tried to help also ended up dying a few days later.<p>The government was complicit and allowed the case to be tried in a military court so most likely nothing will come out of it.

A fictional account of the situation. It&#x27;s a mess and iit isn&#x27;t going to get better soon.<p>Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt1555149&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt1555149&#x2F;</a>

edit: didn&#x27;t know people downvoted statistics in HN.<p>Conversely homicides in Brazil registered the sharpest decline in its history.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;foreignpolicy.com&#x2F;2019&#x2F;04&#x2F;22&#x2F;brazils-murder-rate-finally-fell-and-by-a-lot&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;foreignpolicy.com&#x2F;2019&#x2F;04&#x2F;22&#x2F;brazils-murder-rate-fin...</a><p>&gt; One of the world’s most homicidal countries just registered the sharpest overall decline of lethal violence in its history. Brazil’s murder rate dropped by a whopping 13 percent between 2017 and 2018, from more than 59,000 people killed to just over 51,000. And homicides fell by 25 percent in the first two months of 2019 compared with the same period last year.

&quot;... Rio de Janeiro police killed 434 citizens.&quot;<p>All of them were innocents? Why do some journalists insist to call criminals as victims, citizens, and etc?

Why is the Brazilian police officer wrong when he kills someone and why is any other officer in any other country right when he does the same? Mistakes happen it&#x27;s part of this duty of being the police.<p>It&#x27;s a matter of solving the issues it&#x27;s the most important thing.<p>I was thinking about the other day since the police is so involved why not start investigating the police and what they own so you can understand where there are the bribes.