Violent Crimes Up Sharply in Rio de Janeiro

folha.uol.com.br / LUIZA FRANCO/Official data confirms the general feeling of insecurity in a State that today is under reinforcement by police from the National Security Force and troops from the Armed Forces.

The number of violent deaths in the first semester of this year (3,457) increased by 15% compared to the same period in 2016. It was the worst first semester since 2009 (3,893 deaths).

The region where these deaths increased the most was the Baixada Fluminense, a metropolitan area of 13 adjacent municipalities with 3.7 million inhabitants which experienced an increase of 23%.

“Here people feel freer to kill each other”, says Nívea Raposa, 41. “Because they know that it’s a no-man’s land”, declares Luciene Silva, 51. Both have lost children to violence in the region.

The data is from the ISP (Public Security Institute), the statistical branch of the Public Security Secretariat, and include murder, robbery aggravated by death, bodily injury resulting in death as well as deaths and homicides of those resisting police intervention. Read Article