The metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Salvador (BA), Recife (PE), and Belém (PA) recorded higher rates of police violence throughout 2025, according to the annual report by the Fogo Cruzado Institute, a non-governmental organization that has monitored armed conflicts for ten years. The survey reports a total of 346 people killed across the four metro areas in cases labled as “police massacres”—incidents in which state security agents left three or more people dead. It also estimates that roughly 33% of all armed confrontations logged in the four metropolitan regions in 2025 occurred during police operations. In the previous year, police involvement in recorded shootings was 29%.
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Increase
This is more than double the 172 deaths under the same criteria recorded the year before. The institute does not evaluate the legality of the operations, a question that often takes years to be assessed in court. Much of the increase in police lethality is tied to the October 28 operation against the Red Command in the Penha and Alemão complexes, in Rio’s North Zone, which left 121 dead. The episode surpassed the Carandiru Massacre in death toll, becoming the deadliest police action in Brazil’s history. Even excluding the deaths from the Rio operation, 2025 would still have registered more cases than 2024.
Faction Disputes
The Fogo Cruzado Institute also found that armed territorial disputes increased at the same time. These incidents include clashes between criminal factions, as well as conflicts involving militias. Last year, 445 shootings motivated by territorial control were recorded, a 15% rise compared with 2024. In the Rio metropolitan area alone, there were 275 shootings driven by territorial disputes—an all-time high since 2017, when the organization began monitoring these dynamics. Over the year, 180 people died in these armed confrontations, according to the institute.
Most Affected Neighborhood
Vicente de Carvalho, in Rio’s North Zone, was the neighborhood most affected by this type of conflict, with 36 shootings recorded during the year. “The region is marked by a long-standing conflict between the Red Command, which dominates the Juramento Complex, and Third Pure Command, which operates in the Serrinha Complex,” the report says.
Salvador
In Salvador, there were 520 deaths in police actions, six more than in the previous year. The number of recorded shootings in the Bahia capital fell, but police actions accounted for 44% of armed confrontations, the highest share in the three-year period in which Fogo Cruzado has monitored the region.
Recife
Recife registered an increase in the absolute number of shootings and in the number of people shot during police actions. Police-related incidents represented about 6% of all shootings recorded over the year. The report notes, however, that it counted 46 shootings motivated by disputes between armed groups in the Pernambuco capital and surrounding areas, “representing a 650% increase compared to 2024.”
Belém
Belém recorded a decline in the total number of shootings and deaths, including those linked to police actions. Even so, the number of recorded police massacres rose from four to six, suggesting that incidents became more severe despite the overall reduction.
Analysis:
The 2025 data compiled by the Fogo Cruzado Institute indicates a marked intensification of lethal police force in several major metropolitan regions, with the scale of deaths in operations levels reaching not seen in recent years. The fact that police actions accounted for roughly one-third of all recorded armed confrontations across the four regions suggests a growing centrality of state operations within the overall conflict landscape.
At the same time, the rise in territorial disputes between criminal factions and militias complicates the security environment. The expansion of armed clashes linked to territorial control, particularly in the Rio metropolitan area, reflects ongoing fragmentation and competition among organized groups. In neighborhoods such as Vicente de Carvalho, where rival factions operate in proximity, recurring violence becomes structurally embedded.
Sources: A Folha de SP.
