According to a new statistic revealed last Tuesday by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, more than 11,000 people have died at the hands of authorities in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo since 2003. A substantial portion of this number is derived from the off-duty or “extrajudicial” killings performed by the police.
Impunity amongst the Brazilian Police is a lasting legacy from the military dictatorship when many officers were not held accountable for the crimes they committed. Today, certain divisions of military police continue to act with disregard as immense corruption among the ranks has skewed and clouded the perception of punishable activity.
Mafia-like corruption and violence is rampant both in the ranks of the drug traffickers and within the ranks of police officers. Highly armed drug traffickers strictly govern the urban favelas and defend their turf from rival gangs and from the police. Meanwhile, Brazilian police continue to fuel the violence by acting viciously and purposefully outside the law.
A new policing approach is necessary to ensure the immediate safety for all citizens of Rio and to lay the foundation for a long-term crime-fighting strategy in the years ahead. One new strategy designed to hold the police accountable for their actions is called the Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora (UPP). 
UPPs, or Peacemaker Police Units, refer to the groups of police who are beginning to enter, set up shop in, and control favelas in the Zona Sul by restricting the activities of drug traffickers.
As opposed to the sporadic and violent raids conducted by the police to seize drugs and arms, the establishments of UPPs are forcing the peaceful integration of police into these communities. Such reforms are already reducing the rates of crime and violence.
But if the drug traffickers are being expelled from the favelas in the Zona Sul of Rio, where are they going to operate next? Will the corrupt militias of police eventually turn to selling drugs in order to fill the void left by the traffickers? Only time will tell…
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