In two years of the covid-19 pandemic – from July 2020 to June 2022, the Security Observatories Network recorded 20,243 police actions in five of the seven states in which it operates (Bahia, Ceará, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo ), with a total of 1,989 deaths. The number represented almost half of the approximately 50,000 events monitored by state observatories in the period. Of this total, 12,693 were patrol actions, 6,671 police operations and 879 actions to combat the new coronavirus. The data are contained in the bulletin Raio X of policing actions, released today (18) by the network.
Of the five states listed, the only one that showed an increase in the number of police actions, comparing the first period of the pandemic (July 2020 to June 2021) with the second (July 2021 to June 2022), was Rio de Janeiro. (5.96%). This increase in policing is “possibly” linked to the proximity of the elections, he told Brazil Agency network researcher Bruna Sotero. “In recent months, in all states, there has been an increase in the number of these actions, which shows a possible relationship with the electoral period, mainly with the objective of occupying the headlines of the newspapers”. Bruna explained that in Rio de Janeiro, the growth of police actions has been observed since last year, while in the other states it has occurred mainly in recent months.
According to the bulletin, in the quarter of April, May and June of this year, police actions totaled, respectively, 681, 962 and 934, an increase of 18% in relation to the 584, 736 and 849 observed in the same period of 2021. The month in which the highest growth of police actions occurred was May 2022 (30%), compared to the same period of the previous year. The data showed that governors running for reelection tend to “show service” as the vote approaches.
slaughters
The researcher also noted that Rio de Janeiro was the only state in which the Federal Supreme Court (STF) determined, in May 2020, the restriction of police operations in communities, while the health emergency was in force. Despite still being in force, the network found that ADPF 635 was challenged by the Rio de Janeiro police and government authorities, resulting in the largest massacres recorded in police operations, in May 2021 and May 2022, in the favelas of Jacarezinho and Vila Cruzeiro, respectively. “We see that it is an institutionalized policy”. From one year surveyed to the next, policing actions in the state of Rio rose from 2,854 to 3,024.
Ceará, which had two massacres in the last 12 months, representing twice the previous period, worries the Security Observatories Network because it does not present the same dynamics as Rio, with actions resulting from police operations in which more than three people are killed. “But we need to be aware of what is happening, to look for the reason for this increase”, said the researcher.
The 1,989 deaths recorded by the network, in the period of two years, mean that every ten hours a person died in police action. According to the bulletin, the most lethal state, considering the average proportion of deaths per monitored action, was Bahia, where 16% of operations resulted in deaths. In Rio de Janeiro, 10.4% of the records resulted in deaths and, in São Paulo, 11.8%.
For the Security Observatories Network, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia “are examples of corporations with a culture of tolerance for brutality, corruption and appreciation of police violence”. In the same period, 47 agents died in action, which may indicate that the deaths, during operations, would be a retaliation to the population and a national pattern of police officers who use force in an abusive way. The researcher highlighted that during the pandemic, poor, black and favela people in these territories were held hostage to violence and suffered twice. “In addition to protecting themselves from the virus, they had to flee from the shots”.
drugs and weapons
Bruna Sotero stated that although most of the actions are motivated by the fight against drug trafficking, seizures of narcotics are not routine. On average over the two years monitored, less than 26% of police actions resulted in drug seizures. Ceará was the state that registered the lowest number of seizures (7%) in the last year. “It has not had a positive effect on the population,” said Sotero. Combating drug trafficking is considered an ineffective policy.
The same occurs in relation to the seizure of weapons, which, according to Bruna, is indicative of an increase in lethality and insecurity. The policy of expanding the population’s access to weapons in Brazil was criticized by the researcher. “They [as autoridades] continue to invest in a totally ineffective policy [de combate às drogas] and, on the other hand, instead of betting on arms control and the seizure of illegal weapons, they increase the chance that people are increasingly armed and with greater circulation of weapons”.
The bulletin indicates that 76% of violent deaths in the country are caused by firearms, with seizures in only 15% of operations. São Paulo is the state with the lowest proportional record, 13% and 12%, in the two years analyzed. In the researched period, 540 weapons were seized, with no deaths. Bruna argued that the ease of access to weapons in the country “increases the possibility of interpersonal conflicts”. The gun is now seen as a means of conflict resolution, she added.
The bulletin highlights that policing actions are not monitored by governments. He states that, with rare exceptions, as seen recently in São Paulo, police officers carry out the actions they consider important on the streets, without any supervision and without evaluation of their effectiveness.
Forces
Among the police forces involved in the actions from July 2020 to June 2022, the Military Police accounted for the largest presence in daily policing, with 56.15% of total operations, followed by the Civil Police (33.52%), Municipal Guard (6.72%), Federal Highway Police (6.01%) and Federal Police (4.36%).
The bulletin draws attention to the increased participation of the Federal Police in operations and patrols in Rio de Janeiro (15%), São Paulo (25%) and Ceará (28%), with a significant increase in the participation of the Municipal Guard in Pernambuco (60%). There was also an increase in the actions of the Federal Highway Police in Rio (36%), with significant participation in violent and highly lethal actions, such as the Massacre in Complexo da Penha.
Patrimony
The survey highlights that operations motivated by crimes against property, mainly related to thefts and robberies of cars, homes and street robberies, were the ones that had the highest growth between the two periods (159%). This would be explained by the relaxation of policies to control the pandemic and the increase in the movement of people on the streets. The highest record of this type of motivation occurred in São Paulo (614%), followed by Rio de Janeiro with 240%.
Integration
The network’s assessment is that public security is seen as the sum of police operations, deaths and drug seizures when, in fact, it should have a broader meaning. For Bruna Sotero, public security policy cannot come only with the police, but must be an integrated action. “You cannot enter these territories with the police alone, but with education, health, basic sanitation, so that people can have a better life”. She hopes that, based on the data revealed in the bulletin, an analysis will be made of the negative aspects of public security and that an integrated policy for the sector will begin to be considered.
placements
The Bahia Public Security Secretariat reported that the data presented in the survey by the Security Observatories Network are completely at odds with the productivity of police actions in the analyzed period, with “absurdly underreported” numbers. About 100 tons of drugs seized between 2020, 2021 and the first half of 2022 alone came from operations by the Military and Civil Police, in addition to actions carried out jointly with the Federal and Highway Police, including the eradication of sugar plantations. marihuana. In the same period, 98 rifles were taken from criminals in Bahia.
The survey also presents data on the number of people arrested in police operations. “Only one operation by the Civil Police, Uno Corpus, was responsible for the arrest of 516 people, which demonstrates the research’s total lack of commitment to reality.”
The State Secretariat of the Military Police of Rio responded, through the press office, that the actions of the corporation “are preceded and directed from information from the intelligence sector and official bodies, such as the Institute of Public Security (ISP), being carried out based on technical protocols defined by the legislation and judicial determinations in force”.
He added that in 2022 alone, more than 19,800 criminals were arrested, more than 2,300 juvenile offenders were apprehended and more than 3,900 firearms were removed from the streets, including 221 rifles.
The Federal Police, in turn, announced that it does not comment on statements or disclosures from other institutions.
Until the closing of this article, no responses were received from the Public Security secretariats of Ceará, Pernambuco and São Paulo, nor from the Federal Highway Police.
