CNN - Brazil Cops - Mar. 25, 1996

In Brazil, police think fast and shoot faster

March 25, 1996
Web posted at: 3:45 p.m. EST (2045 GMT)

From Correspondent Marina Mirabella

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The scene shocked Brazilians, but didn't really surprise them.

It was March 1995, and a robbery suspect was being subdued by police officers. After being shoved to the ground and handcuffed, he was dragged behind a Volkswagen van and shot three times in the back by an armed policeman. All this in front of dozens of bystanders and one local television crew. (973K QuickTime movie)

The police claim such tactics are justified in their ever-growing urban war with drug traffickers and other violent criminals. Theirs is a violent society, they say, one which requires them to think fast and shoot quickly or face death themselves.

Human rights groups, however, see it differently. The police in Rio de Janeiro and in Sao Paulo, Brazil's two largest cities, are among the most violent in the world, the groups say, killing hundreds of civilians each year.

Paulo Sergio Pinheira of Americas Watch calls the police in Rio "killers."

"They have the wrong perception of the fight against criminality," Pinheira said. "They think that by killing suspects or criminals, you fight crime."

Sometimes the victims of the police's actions are not criminals, however. In Vigario Geral, a slum on the outskirts of Rio, police stormed through the community one recent night and randomly killed 21 people. They were avenging the murder of fellow officers by drug traffickers from the area.

It is ironic that just as gangs have taken over some slums and crime is on the rise, Rio's citizens need police the most -- yet don't trust them.

Sociologist Emir Sader said many people do their best to avoid all contact with police in Rio. (61K AIFF sound or 61K WAV sound)

No respect

Experts trace the inefficacy of the police force to a combination of low status and poor pay.

For much of Brazil's history, the country's small elite used the police virtually as its own private army to control discontent among the lower classes. The police, while doing the bidding of the rich, were looked down on by members of the very groups they were expected to keep in line.

"The police force has not been a respectable institution," said anthropologist Rubem Cesar Fernandes. "It was always the dirty jobs that were given to the police. It was always a kind of dirty institution -- very repressive and every authoritarian."

Today's forces face the added pressure of low pay. The average salary for a Rio police officer is about $300 a month, a figure that requires many to take second jobs just to make ends meet.

After years of ignoring the problem, authorities in Sao Paulo are now starting to address these and other issues. But most of the solutions offered so far -- everything from meditation to group therapy -- are seen as little more than window dressing.

What is really needed, most observers said, is fundamental change, including higher wages, better resources and the respect of their fellow citizens.

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In Brazil, police think fast and shoot faster

No respect

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