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 The growing number of police killings of suspected criminals in Rio de Janeiro's war on drugs is linked to bonuses now paid to "brave" police officers, according to a just-released independent study.
The group that conducted the research, the Institute for Studies on Religion (ISER), tallied the deaths of 10,216 people from 1995 to 2007 in police raids on the favelas (shantytowns) and other places inhabited by drug gangs.
It found that the ratio of dead to wounded climbed significantly after the city started offering bonuses to police in 1995 to particularly courageous officers.
In 1995, the ratio of killed to injured was 1.7 dead for every person injured.
That ratio has more than doubled, to its current 3.5 dead for every person injured. If police were not seeking to kill suspects, a greater proportion of injured might be expected, the report noted.
The man who wrote the report, sociologist Ignacio Cano, called the decision to pay bonuses a "Wild West incentive" which encourages police to kill suspects.
"It consolidated armed conflict as a security policy," he said.
The report was based on statistics from the Rio de Janeiro state government.
Despite the rampant violence, Rio de Janeiro was chosen last month to host the 2016 Olympics, the first edition of the Games ever to be held in South America.
Since then, scores of people have been killed in the city's drug wars. Police justify the deaths of most of these civilians, arguing that they are criminals who resisted arrest.
Rio's Public Security Ministry did not dispute the figures but insisted that the city "will not give up repressing drug traffickers" and do whatever it legally takes to quell the plague.
"Police have the obligation to act in that context," the ministry said in a statement.
Cano noted that the death toll of more than 10,000 for 12 years was worse "than many wars" and did not contribute to reducing violence in the city.
In comparison, the financial capital of Brazil, Sao Paulo, reported 40% fewer people killed by police in the same time period, even though it has 2.5 times more people than Rio do Janeiro.
Mercopress
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the only way to put any kind of dent in that is to legalise in some way drugs and take the profit margin away from the traficars
with marijana there is no problem because this is the least harmless drug of them all including alcohol and cigarettes, it just shouldnt be illeagal and people going to jail for it...
for sure cocaine and other hard drugs presents a differant problem. they are dangerous and bad for the health...
with the understanding that people en masse are doing it anyway, i would think some kind of super regulated , doctor consultation and perscription, with consuling and back up every step of a users tragectory might make a differance
of course ,young people would not be allowed , and ,they are the ones doing it the most, but, if it was inside the system, at least it could be regulated and the real dangers could be constantly shown to the potential users
whatever anyone thinks of this, obviously, nothing is working now...nothing...and it is putting unbelevable money in thugs hands...money that could be taxed and used for health purposes to get addicts off of these drugs..and putting an unbeleivable drain on society...its a hole so deep no one can dig there way out of it for now