{"id":35995,"date":"2017-04-24T12:56:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T15:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=35995"},"modified":"2017-04-28T08:38:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T11:38:21","slug":"in-rio-the-police-that-most-kill-are-also-those-that-most-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=35995","title":{"rendered":"In Rio, the Police that Most Kill Are Also Those that Most Die"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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For the original article by Mari\u00e1 Mart\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0in Portuguese published by El Pa\u00eds\u00a0click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rio de Janeiro buries one police officer every other day. A report shows lack of training, corruption and precarious professional conditions are\u00a0the source of this vulnerability.<\/h4>\n

It was raining in Rio and Pedro Ara\u00fajo had just been shot in the head. He had answered a call about a case of domestic violence and was going to log the occurrence when he crossed paths with a gang of armed criminals in a supposedly pacified region. A shooting broke out and Pedro, 39, was shot. In uniform and still clutching his rifle, it was possible to see the corporal breathe in agony. He was alone, lying on his stomach on a dirty, wet floor. No one could help him. On the contrary. A nearly two-minute video<\/a> shows how a group of residents, as well as a dozen drivers passing by, look indifferently at his body. He does not seem to be someone redeemable, but rather a “screwed up cop” with “the biggest hole” in his forehead, as they say in the recording. The only person who approaches Pedro is a boy in a striped sweater to steal his gun. “Grab the rifle!” shouts the gang referring to the 7.62 mm lightweight automatic rifle used by the Military Police<\/a>. “It’s R$20,000!”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pedro, who earns a salary of R$2,900, seven times less than the price of the rifle, has been struggling between life and death since March 28. He was seen by these residents as just another member of Brazil’s\u00a0most deadly\u00a0police<\/a>. But Rio’s police\u00a0are also those that die the most, according to the Brazilian Annual Public Safety Report<\/a>. The video of his agony was another blow to a troop that buried one police officer every other day this year. Four of the 50 victims were even savagely tortured and then burnt to death by their drug trafficking executioners. In Rio, drying the uniform in the oven, behind the refrigerator, or hiding identification in the spare tire compartment in the trunk have become\u00a0survival protocol for many of the corporation’s approximately 47,000 men.<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, on the lawn of the Jardim da Saudade cemetery in the West Zone<\/a> of Rio, two rows of Military Police<\/a> officers saluted, teary-eyed, in front of yet another coffin. It was the day two officers\u00a0were spotted executing two bandits\u00a0who surrendered<\/a> on the ground after a clash that also killed a 13-year-old girl in a school. But it was also the day of the funeral of soldier Fernando Santos, 25.<\/p>\n

Fernando was killed the day before, trying to prevent an assault in the neighborhood of Recreio. He was shot in the chest. Jefferson Cruz mourned the loss of his childhood friend among the cries of despair of his relatives: “It was a heroic act, but I lost a brother for an ungrateful profession that does not enable its police. There are no weapons, no vest, no social assistance for the family. We are at the mercy of marginality, armed better\u00a0than our police officers.”<\/p>\n