Deaths resulting from police intervention in São Paulo state increased by 19.3% in January this year compared to the same period of 2022. In the first month of the Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) administration, police officers were responsible for 37 deaths, against 31 recorded in January 2022. The data are from the Internal Affairs of the Military and Civil Police and were released in the Official State Gazette. The numbers indicate that the increase in police lethality was pushed by the action of professionals who were off duty. This year, of the 37 homicides recorded, 14 (37.9%) were committed by police officers who were not working at the time of the occurrence. In 2022, four deaths (12.9%), among the 31 surveyed in the period, were caused by agents that were not in operation.
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Our Analysis:
For the Brazilian Public Security Forum, these numbers can be a warning sign. It is difficult to determine the cause of the increase in deaths with data from a single month. However, the State was coming from a consistent drop in lethality numbers and, it is possible, that we are facing the inversion or the interruption of this process. This process could be connected to the more repressive position, as a method to fight the organized crime, of the current state governor, Tarcísio de Freitas. He is an ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro and member of the right-wing political movement, which favours more liberty of action to policemen and rejects measures that attempts to survey their work, such as the implementation of body cameras. In this sense, he is similar to former Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel, who carried out a violent repressive policy in Rio that led to an increase in deaths perpetrated by police officers during operations. In Rio, this trend led to a debate on the right and efficacy of violent police operations, particularly during the pandemic.
11/03/2023 – Two people were injured after a man stabbed them, near a bus stop, on Engenheiro George Corbisier Avenue, in the Jabaquara neighborhood, South Zone. After the crime, the armed criminal fled. Security camera footage caught the criminal walking calmly down the road.
11/03/2023 – A woman was robbed on her way to work in Vila Marieta neighborhood, East Zone. The criminal, who was extremely violent, threw the woman to the ground and tore her clothes. All this to get the victim’s cell phone.
12/03/2023 – A model was kidnapped and robbed by three criminals in the Jardins neighborhood, West Zone. The victim asked for an app car, and during the journey the driver stopped the car and two other criminals entered announcing the robbery. They took her cell phone and forced her to pass passwords for them to make bank transfers. In addition to applying scams to relatives and friends of the model. The police managed to arrest the three criminals.
13/03/2023 – A private school in Perdizes, a neighborhood in the West Zone, was threatened during an attempted scam via Pix. In the morning, a man called the school secretary and said he would shoot and invade the school if a transfer was not made via Pix. The employee who answered the call realized it was a scam and called the police.
14/03/2023 – Police arrested a man who stood at the window of his apartment shooting neighbors and passers-by with pressure weapons in the Vila Alpina neighborhood, East Zone. Several people were injured, including a child and a street guard.
14/03/2023 – A couple broke into a luxury hotel to steal guests in Cidade Monções, South Zone. Images from security cameras show the criminals disguising themselves, pretending to talk on their cell phones, then going to the hotel’s restaurant. While the accomplice distracts the receptionist. Inside the restaurant, the criminal takes advantage of the victim moving away from the table and steals the backpack that is on the chair. Afterwards, the couple quietly leaves.
14/03/2023 – The Military Police arrested a gang that applied the card machine scam at the concerts of the English band Coldplay at Estádio do Morumbi, South Zone. To deceive the victims, they sold counterfeit products and at the time of payment, the criminals changed the victims’ cards and transferred money from their bank accounts.
15/03/2023 – A 21-year-old man died after trying to rob a civil police officer on Avenida Professor Oscar Campiglia, in the Jardim Umarizal neighborhood, South Zone. The victim, a 43-year-old civil police officer, reported that he was driving down the road with his wife when the criminal approached them on a motorcycle. According to the officer, the man was armed. He reacted and shot the criminal, who died at the scene. The simulacrum of a firearm used by the man was seized, as well as the civil police officer’s weapon.
16/03/2023 – A Jiu-jitsu teacher was shot during an attempted robbery in the Avenida Vereador José Diniz, Santo Amaro neighborhood, South Zone. Two criminals on a motorcycle approached him at a traffic light. They wanted the fighter’s motorcycle, but the instructor reacted and was shot.
17/03/2023 – Two men were victims of the dating app scam after arranging a meeting through a dating app, being taken into captivity, tied up and robbed in the Jaguará neighborhood, West Zone. According to the Military Police, one of the victims managed to break free and flee, going straight to a police station, where he reported the crime.
