Thread: Ask me about Rio de Janeiro's street war!

Parents went to Rio once. First thing they saw getting off of a bus one day was a cop running after a criminal, I believe the cop had his weapon drawn. How shy are cops about killing criminals? Here it is a pretty big deal requiring lots of justification and legal trouble unless the criminal is actually shooting at the cop already and even then things are reviewed. I've heard it is different down there...

Como estão as coisas ai no Rio? Não assisti televisão nem nada hoje, só ouvi falar.
Passa um resumo ai do que aconteceu

Originally Posted by spockman

Parents went to Rio once. First thing they saw getting off of a bus one day was a cop running after a criminal, I believe the cop had his weapon drawn. How shy are cops about killing criminals? Here it is a pretty big deal requiring lots of justification and legal trouble unless the criminal is actually shooting at the cop already and even then things are reviewed. I've heard it is different down there...

It's not different at all, if a police officer shoots down an unarmed suspect, he will be fired and probably arrested.

The problem is that guns are as common in the slums as bricks, which means that most robbers will have one, so the police officers just don't have the luxury of going after a criminal without being ready to shoot back!

Originally Posted by Kallz

Como estão as coisas ai no Rio? Não assisti televisão nem nada hoje, só ouvi falar.
Passa um resumo ai do que aconteceu

Depois das UPPs os expulsarem das favelas da zona sul, os bandidos se desesperaram e partiram para o terrorismo, incendiando até agora 72 veículos, só nessa semana! Aí então, hoje, a polícia junto da marinha entrou em um das maiores favelas da região e dominou-a. Os bandidos prometeram represárias sérias!

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Also, check out the latest pictures of the war:
http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/f...os-no-rio.html

Originally Posted by MCB

It's not different at all, if a police officer shoots down an unarmed suspect, he will be fired and probably arrested.

The problem is that guns are as common in the slums as bricks, which means that most robbers will have one, so the police officers just don't have the luxury of going after a criminal without being ready to shoot back!



Depois das UPPs os expulsarem das favelas da zona sul, os bandidos se desesperaram e partiram para o terrorismo, incendiando até agora 72 veículos, só nessa semana! Aí então, hoje, a polícia junto da marinha entrou em um das maiores favelas da região e dominou-a. Os bandidos prometeram represárias sérias!

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Also, check out the latest pictures of the war:
G1 - Veja fotos da violência no Rio de Janeiro - fotos em Rio de Janeiro

That makes sense. Not that killing someone is not a big deal, but it is neccessary more often.

Also, I don't want you to think I believed Rio to have such a backwards legal system that it is full with crooked cops. rather, I had heard that crime and gangs were prevelant enough to create a, (relative to the U.S.,) fairly brutal law enforcement system where shoot outs are less questioned. Of course I have never been there and it is just what I have heard.

Originally Posted by spockman

That makes sense. Not that killing someone is not a big deal, but it is neccessary more often.

Also, I don't want you to think I believed Rio to have such a backwards legal system that it is full with crooked cops. rather, I had heard that crime and gangs were prevelant enough to create a, (relative to the U.S.,) fairly brutal law enforcement system where shoot outs are less questioned. Of course I have never been there and it is just what I have heard.

Don't worry, I know what you meant , but it is true that the level of power the gangs have actually created a fairly brutal law enforcement, but only when it is needed. That is why we have the BOPE, a special operations police force which the very symbol is a skull, and they don't fool around! When they go up a slum, bodies hit the floor. They are the ones in black in the pictures.

But it's because that is the minimum brutality they actually are able to fight with, or, otherwise, the police would always be overwhelmed by the criminals. It's like a fire against fire filosophy.