According to Rio de Janeiro’s Public Security Institute (ISP-RJ), the annual number of intentional murders that took place in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro has been decreasing. In 2018 there were 3.577 murders, and in 2022, until November, 1.902 were reported. From a public safety perspective, the statistics are positive, granting the region with a homicide rate of 16,7 per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure quite distant from the worst results for a capital, currently, Macapá, with 63,8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Despite this, Rio’s Metropolitan area still maintains high levels of violence against life, unacceptable for the United Nations (UN) standards – above 10 murders per 100/inhabitants is critical – and elevated even when compared to other metropolis within Brazil, like São Paulo, which reached a rate of 7,7 homicides.
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The Players
According to the Map of Armed Groups, elaborated by Fogo Cruzado Institute and Grupo de Estudos dos Novos Ilegalismos of the Universidade Federal Fluminense (GENI-UFF), almost half of the territories controlled by criminal groups are under the influence of militias (49,9% of the total), comprising an area of 256,28 km². From 2008 to 2021, there was a 387,3% increase in the total area in the hands of militias; in 2008 they controlled only 52,60 km², which at the time was 23,7% of the total areas subjugated by criminals. The two major drug trafficking groups in Rio de Janeiro also expanded, but in a smaller proportion than the militias: the Red Command (CV) grew 58,8% (from 130,26 Km² to 206,83 Km²), while the Pure Third Command (TCP) expanded its territories by 110,8% (from 19,70 Km² to 41,53Km²).
When it comes only to criminal-controlled areas, large drug trafficking groups no longer have as much territorial control as they once did. 49,9% of the total controlled by organized crime is under militia control; 40,3% under Red Commando; 8.9% with Pure Third Command and 1,1% with the Friends of Friends (ADA). CV lost 31,2% of its share in this total. It is interesting to note that the strong territorial expansion of the militias was not made through disputes, approximately 90,3% of this expansion occurred in areas where previously there was no presence of organized crime.
While the total of homicides in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, as mentioned on the introduction, decreased, violent police operations have been multiplying and breaking records of fatal victims. Three out of the four most violent operations in Rio de Janeiro’s history have happened in the last 2 years. The first, in May 2021, in Jacarezinho, North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, left 27 civilians and 1 civil police officer dead; the second, in May of 2022, in Vila Cruzeiro, also in the North Zone, was marked by the death of 24 civilians, without casualties in police forces; and the fourth, in Complexo do Alemão, the largest favela complex the North Zone, in July 2022, caused the deaths of 17 civilians (one of them without ties to organized crime) and 1 military police officer.
More Operations in Drug Trafficking Areas and in the North Zone
The three sites where these police actions were carried out are controlled by Red Command, the state’s largest drug trafficking faction, and one of the largest in the country. Nevertheless, regions with a high presence of this particular faction have lower homicide rates than those in which they are not present or are not as active as other factions. Moreover, CV’s areashave lower rates than those controlled by the militias.
However, most of the deaths caused by the intervention of state agents and of law enforcement operations with more than 3 deaths take place in CV’s territory: 65% of deaths and 61% of operations with more than three deaths take place in areas dominated by this gang.
The rapid growth of the militias, their increased presence in the state and their high lethality rate were not enough to make CV as the main public threat from the perspective of the security forces; 65% of police operations take place in neighborhoods controlled by CV, 22% in militia-controlled areas, and the remaining 13% in areas controlled by TCP and ADA.
Moreover, the study of deaths committed by police forces also point to another fact that draws attention: the North Zone of Rio is the most affected by high police lethality. The North Zone concentrates 27% of actions with 3 or more deaths and 34% of the deaths, which makes it the preferred area for police action. At least 338 civilians have been killed in the 67 police actions that killed more than 3 people in the North region over the past six years. Another 233 civilians were killed in 65 in similar operations in Baixada Fluminense; 211 civilians were killed in the 60 incidents in the Metropolitan East, 113 in the 32 events in the West Zone, and 74 in 17 in the capital central area. The region the less affected by the conflicts between police and criminals is the South Zone, where 39 people died in 9 incidents.
Who Are the Victims of the Shootings?
From 2016 until mid-2022, 1.008 civilians have been killed in more than 250 operations that had more than 3 deaths in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro. However, it is not only criminals or suspects who are affected by armed confrontations, policemen themselves and the population also suffer. In 2022, 100 military police officers were shot in such circumstances, 40 of them died. On top of that, risks are high even outside working hours. 47 officers were hit while off duty, reacting to a crime, or being the victim of a premeditated attack.
As for the civilian population, from July 2016 to November 2022, 1.000 were victims of stray bullets, of these victims, 624 were hit during conflicts between the police and criminals, 108 died inside their homes, 25 in pubs and 18 while inside public transport, thus, under theoretically regular and seemingly safe circumstances.
Public Debate on Lethality
In 2019, a year in which police violence and lethality was close to the current situation, Rio de Janeiro’s Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP-RJ) released a study showing an analysis of police operations. In this document, MP-RJ stated that: police lethality does not cause reduction of homicides and robberies; sporadic police actions have not been able to reduce the problem of public security; and confrontations increase the risk of killing innocent people and affect public services.
In November 2019, a popular initiative made by public entities and organizations against violence, called the Agreement of Non-Compliance with the Fundamental Precept 635, or ADPF das Favelas was presented to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) by the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB). In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court decided to comply with some requests from this ADPF and suspended in an injunction all non-essential police operations in favelas. It also banned the use of helicopters as a firing platform, and police operations on school and hospital perimeters. In a wainy, there was a reduction in lethality with the adoption of the measures, but not because of a change in police behavior, but due to a reduction in the number of operations.
While there is strong pressure from the population to reduce police lethality, this is not an easy task. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, heavily armed criminal groups control much of the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro and they have no interest in giving up their domains, which they rule without state interference, and exploit to profit under lawless circumstances. In a constant state of war, the maintenance of territories feeds an arms race among the gangs, where firearms serve much more as tools to fend off assaults from rival groups and conquer new ones, than to fight the police. However, in this belligerent cycle, without better or similar firepower, it is likely that law enforcement would not be able to carry out its duty.
Still, it is possible to see, inside the police, initiatives to reduce lethality without giving up their presence in these places. Last year, part of the military police force has already begun to use cameras on their uniforms in order to film their operations and any excess that is committed by them or against them. In October 2022, police also announced that they had purchased 600 new Israeli 5.56 semiautomatic IWI rifles. The weapons, when compared to the 7.62 rifles used today, have lower destructive power, greater firing accuracy, are lighter, more ergonomic and have holographic sights. That means the chances of stray bullets hitting and killing innocent people are smaller.
The situation of urban violence in Rio de Janeiro is still far from ideal, but with pressure from society and willingness of the authorities, improvements can be made towards a future with fewer confrontations, stray bullets, deaths, and armed criminal groups.
