Rio’s State Police Arrested Over 35,000 Criminals Last Year

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The State Police Secretariat of Rio de Janeiro pointed out, on Tuesday, January 14th, when publishing last year’s operational balance report, the record number of arrests of criminals and apprehension of weapons.

According to the Secretary of the State Police, Colonel Rogerio Figueiredo de Lacerda, the result exceeded previous records and was crucial for a “significant reduction” in criminal rates of great impact throughout the state.

Responsible for ostensible and preventive policing in the state, last year the State Police arrested 35,415 criminals and seized 8,400 firearms, including 505 automatic rifles, considered weapons of war, with a range of over two-kilometers.

The numbers far exceed the results obtained in previous years, as evidenced in the seizures of rifles: 382 collected in 2017 and 330 in 2018.

“These overwhelming numbers evidence the tireless work of our troop and largely explain the reduction in crime rates, whether of crimes against life or crimes against property,” said Figueiredo.

He stressed that combined with the extension of preventive and ostensible policing on urban roads, based on the reading and analysis of criminal data, the daily operations in communities used by criminal groups as trenches have been key to reducing the number of incidences.

According to the secretary, the presence of police in such communities undermines organized crime and benefits society. “Frequent operations hinder the movement of criminals, which has a positive impact on reducing homicides, vehicle and cargo theft, and other crimes”.

Planning

Figueiredo reported that 5,152 operations were carried out during 2019, all planned by the PM’s Intelligence area and executed with more and better trained and equipped personnel. Although the number of operations was higher than in previous years, the number of state police officers killed was reduced by 38 percent, said the secretary.

“The reduction of fatalities in our troops is an absolute priority for the command of the corporation. We have greatly advanced, but we still face a great challenge,” he said.

The secretary referred to the troop training program and the recomposition of the active duty force, which began in 2019 and will be accelerated this year. He further mentioned the increase of material resources in the State Police, which received new vehicles, weapons, and personal protection equipment.

ISP Data

In the next few days, the Public Safety Institute (ISP) of Rio de Janeiro will release the criminal indexes for December 2019, closing last year’s 12-month cycle.

The most impacting indicators are expected to continue to drop significantly. From January to November 2019, compared to the same period last year, there was a reduction throughout the state in homicides (-20 percent), Hold-ups (-32 percent), street robbery (-7 percent), vehicle theft (-24 percent) and cargo theft (-18.5 percent).