Data from the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook reveals that the state of Rio de Janeiro has the highest number of military police officers killed off-duty in the country. In 2024, 41 military police officers were killed while off-duty or outside of work hours. These cases include officers who responded to robberies, were murdered, suffered robberies themselves, or experienced bodily harm resulting in death. Military police officers killed in Rio under these circumstances represent 36.28% of the total recorded in Brazil. Despite this high percentage, the number is lower than in 2023, when 45 officers were murdered.
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Brazil
In 2024, a total of 113 military police officers were killed off-duty in confrontations or due to unnatural injuries, considering only the states that submitted data for the report. After Rio de Janeiro, the state with the most deaths was São Paulo, where 13 military police officers were murdered off-duty. São Paulo, however, has the largest contingent of military police officers in the country, with 80,037 personnel, while Rio de Janeiro ranks second with 43,362 officers.
Civil Police Officers
When examining civil police officers killed off-duty, the numbers are significantly lower: only two officers were killed in 2024. The data excludes traffic accidents and suicides. The Brazilian Public Security Yearbook also provides information on officers killed on duty: in 2024, 11 military police officers and one civil police officer were killed in confrontations while performing their duties.
2025
So far in 2025, 19 military police officers have been killed off-duty in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Last week, Tulio de Siqueira Maia, from the 24th Military Police Battalion (Queimados), was shot and killed in Vila Valqueire, in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, while off-duty and leaving a diner with his wife. Bystanders transported him to the hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries. The main line of investigation indicates he was the victim of an attempted robbery.
Japeri
The municipality of Japeri, in the Baixada Fluminense region, is among the ten cities with the highest rates of deaths resulting from police interventions per 100,000 inhabitants. Japeri ranked seventh in the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook, with a rate of 19.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. Across the state of Rio de Janeiro, a total of 703 deaths caused by on- and off-duty officers were recorded in 2024, with 20 of these occurring in Japeri. The highest rate in the ranking was recorded in Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, at 30.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
Two More Cities
Two additional cities in Rio de Janeiro appear in another violence ranking in the Yearbook. The municipalities of Angra dos Reis and Nilópolis are among the ten locations where deaths resulting from police interventions (MDIP) accounted for more than half of intentional violent deaths (MVI). In Angra dos Reis, the MDIP/MVI ratio is 55, while in Nilópolis it reached 53.8. The top three municipalities on the list were Itabaiana (SE) with 75.6, Santos (SP) with 66.1, and São Vicente (SP) also with 66.1.
Analysis:
The data on police deaths in Rio de Janeiro reveals the complex and high-risk environment faced by law enforcement officers, particularly those serving in densely populated urban areas. The fact that Rio consistently records the highest number of off-duty military police deaths in the country demonstrates the vulnerability of officers even outside official duties, reflecting both the prevalence of violent crime and the challenges of personal security in high-risk neighborhoods. While the number of off-duty deaths decreased slightly from 2023 to 2024, the persistence of these incidents indicates that broader protective measures and support systems remain essential.
The comparison with São Paulo, which has a larger police contingent but significantly fewer off-duty fatalities, suggests that local context—crime patterns, socio-economic conditions, and the presence of organized criminal groups—plays a decisive role in officer vulnerability. The near absence of civil police deaths off-duty further illustrates the disparity in risk between different branches of law enforcement.
