Security in Rio de Janeiro

18/01/2007 - 17:55.

From December 28 to the 30th, 2006, a series of attacks in several spots of Rio de Janeiro, from the South Zone to the Baixada Fluminense left 19 people dead and 25 wounded. Criminals set buses afire; machine gunned Military Police patrol posts and attacked police headquarters with gunfire and grenades. Although the main target was the police, an interstate bus was set afire with passengers inside, leaving 7 people dead and many wounded. It is suspected that the order for these actions initiated in the Bangu prison compound.

The wave of violence preceded the change of state government on January 1st. Authorities gave two versions of the attacks’ motives: the criminals’ fear of possible changes in the state penitentiary administration and the drug traffickers’ reaction to the presence in several of Rio’s favelas of paramilitary Militias, groups composed of both on and off-duty military and civil police officers, firemen and soldiers of the Armed Forces who, in non-official actions, oppress the drug trafficking in those communities.

In view of the crisis, the new governor Sérgio Cabral Filho, solicited the Federal Government to dispatch troops from the Public Security National Forces and the Armed Forces, a measure that caused controversy among specialists in the area of security. Another step taken by the state government, this time in partnership with the governors of the other states in the Southeast region (São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo), was the creation of the Cabinet of Integrated Action in the Southeast a sort of administration committee for public safety of the region.

Violence in Rio de Janeiro is not a novelty and has been the object of academic studies for nearly a decade. The content of this dossier, frequently updated, contributes to a better understanding of this complex question.

Children of the Drug Trade- a case study of children in organized armed violence in Rio de Janeiro

Luke Dowdney, Viva Rio, 2003

Book

Available in Portuguese at the Comunidad Segura Virtual Library:

Mapeamento da vitimização de Policiais no Rio de Janeiro

Jacqueline Muniz e Barbara Musumeci, Cesec, 1998

Relatório de pesquisa

"Ser Policial é, Sobretudo, uma Razão de Ser": cultura e cotidiano da Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Jacqueline Muniz, Iuperj, 1999

Tese de Doutorado

Avaliando o Sentimento de Insegurança nos bairros da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Renato Coelho Dirk, Andréia Soares Pinto e Ana Luísa Vieira de Azevedo, Anpocs, 2004
Relatório de Pesquisa