Brazil: Police Prohibited from Rescuing Victims of Violent Crimes in São Paulo

On January 8, 2013, Folha de São Paulo reported that São Paulo policemen are no longer permitted to rescue victims of violent crimes, as part of a resolution from the local Ministry of Public Security.  The goal of such action is to prevent the police from altering the scene of the crime and to allow victims to be attended to by trained emergency professionals.  Other parts of the resolution included changing nomenclature of police reports to reflect deaths caused by police interventions and sending all victims and witnesses of crimes directly to anti-crime agencies.  Today, some of these victims go to the local police battalion beforehand.  Read Article