Every now and then, a video that exposes police violence in Brazil ignites controversy and places the focus on the actions of the security forces, which are among the most lethal on the planet. This week it happened again when two brutal videos were released: one shows a plainclothes police officer shooting a thief in the back in a grocery store; In the other, a uniformed man throws a suspect off a bridge. The second victim survived. Although the governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, a retired military man and Bolsonaro supporter, has criticized the agents involved, criticism is intensifying, accusing him of having supported a climate of impunity. Statistics are stubborn. The police were responsible for one in four violent deaths that occurred in 2024 in the State of São Paulo, according to data collected by Bridge Journalism.
Latin America is the most violent region in the world by far. And among the many causes—from drug trafficking to the weakness of institutions or a young population—there is also police lethality. Especially in Venezuela and Brazil.
The latter country has allowed a culture encouraged by impunity to take root among the security forces in recent decades. It is a widespread phenomenon, although with important regional differences. Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and, some distance away, São Paulo tend to top the police fatality rate.
The most recent controversy has São Paulo as its epicenter. Strikingly, the case that has generated the greatest media impact is that of the suspect who was thrown off a bridge on Monday by a military police officer. He managed to survive and what happened hit the media thanks to a video recorded by a witness. The 13 agents involved in the operation have been removed from their duties and the one who pushed him to fall into a stream was arrested this Thursday due to the scandal. The attacked person was on a motorcycle who ignored the order to stop and was chased. Perhaps it has caused more of a stir due to the novelty of the aggression.
More serious were the consequences for the twenty-something black man who stole four packages of detergent from a store and slipped while fleeing. The recording from the establishment’s security camera shows how the white customer, who is paying at the register, sees him run, reaches for his waist, pulls out a gun and shoots him in the back. Eleven bullets hit him. He was a plainclothes police officer. When questioned, he claimed that he acted in self-defense because he suspected that the robber was armed. A classic argument in this type of events, more common than that of the bridge.
Regarding that case, the governor of São Paulo said: “Whoever throws someone off a bridge is not fit to wear the uniform of the institution.” His Secretary of Public Security, a military police captain with a reputation for toughness, Guilherme Derrite, criticized the agents involved saying that “a police officer does not shoot in the back in a robbery without a threat to his life, nor does he throw anyone over.” of a wall.” Throughout his career, Derrite was investigated for 16 homicides without ever being charged, according to the magazine Piauí. For the head of the police force “it was an emotional mistake, almost a childish thing for which he is going to be judged,” he declared to Folha de S.Paulo.
The São Paulo governor tries to keep his distance from his political mentor, former president Jair Bolsonaro, without confronting his followers. This Wednesday he announced that he is keeping the secretary of public security in his position despite these and other recent cases of police violence. “Look at the numbers,” said De Freitas, emphasizing the decrease in murders (-3%), robberies (-14%) and thefts (-4%). A fact that has not been mentioned, but the statistics do reveal, is that in 2024 one of every four people murdered in the state was a victim of the police, 676 of the more than 1,800 victims. A common rate in Rio, where the use of cameras by police than overall deaths fell.
In the last year, police violence in São Paulo has increased and controversial cases are multiplying. A police operation that lasted several weeks in Santos caused more than fifty deaths, a child later died after being hit by a stray bullet – something common in Rio, but not in São Paulo – a medical student who was later shot by an officer that, according to the official version, he hit the rearview mirror of the police patrol when they tried to approach him and became aggressive, etc. In recent hours, new videos have been coming to light showing new abuses.
