On February 6, delivery man Yago Correa, 21, went to buy bread for a barbecue at a market in Jacarezinho, the community where he lives, in the north of Rio. young black man took shelter in a pharmacy to avoid being shot. Still clinging to the bag of bread, Yago was arrested, accused of association with drug trafficking. With the mobilization of friends and relatives – and given the lack of evidence – the young man was released days later.
In Rio, the case of Yago is no exception. The Suspicious Element survey, released on the morning of this Tuesday, 15th, by the Center for Security and Citizenship Studies (CESeC), shows that in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, blacks – pretos and pardos, in the classification of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE ) – are 48% of the population, but the target of 63% of military police approaches. According to the work, “racism is at the heart of police activity and the criminal justice system”.
In all the situations surveyed, blacks are the most approached by the Military Police. For example, they are 79% of those who have had their homes searched by agents of the security forces. 74% of those who report having a relative or friend killed by a police officer. And still 71% of people approached on public transport. Of the total number of people approached, 17% have already been stopped by the police more than ten times.
The actions are accentuated by age, gender, color, social class and territory. They create a typical profile of those approached: men, blacks, up to 40 years old, living in a favela or periphery, with an income of up to three minimum wages. According to the survey, the distribution of these factors among subjects who were stopped more than ten times is “extremely revealing of the characteristics of the suspect from the police point of view”. The work shows that 94% were men; 66%, blacks; 50% were up to 40 years old; 35% lived in slums; 33% lived in the periphery; and 58% earned up to three minimum wages.
‘Criminal face’
The body search is usually reserved for those who the police think have a “criminal look” or that they are “hiding something”, in the words of the agents themselves. Among those who have already been searched, half of all approached, 84% were men, 69% were black, and 70% were residents of favelas and neighborhoods on the periphery. On the other hand, only 10% of whites who earn more than ten minimum wages are searched.
Racism drives approaches
In an interview with the researchers, military police officers defined the “suspicious element” as young, “with a thin blond mustache, hair with yellow spots, Flamengo blouse, cap”. It is, the study concludes, basically any typical young person from the favelas and periphery of Rio de Janeiro.
“The role of police agents camouflages the equally decisive roles of delegates, prosecutors, judges and penal agents in the daily maintenance and reproduction of racism”, says the study’s coordinator, Sílvia Ramos. “We pull the thread of a skein; the suspect element is confirmed as guilty and, later, as a convicted criminal, serving a sentence which, in turn, produces the profile of the suspect element: the so-called vicious circle.”
The first part of the research was quantitative. Based on a screening of 3,500 people in high-traffic points in the city, 739 detailed interviews were carried out by Instituto Datafolha. The second part was qualitative. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with young favela residents, delivery people, app drivers, women and police officers.
The survey also asked respondents to assess security forces in terms of efficiency, respect, racism, corruption and violence in approaches. The PM in Rio had the worst performance, with a score of 5.4.
PM does not comment on numbers
The Rio de Janeiro Military Police Department reacted to the survey with a note in which it highlighted the strong presence of “Afro-descendants” in its ranks. The text does not directly comment on the numbers presented by the CESeC survey.
“The Secretary of State for the Military Police (SEPM) is a more than bicentennial corporation with a central mission to defend society in Rio de Janeiro. Our actions are based on strict protocols, training and guidance. The majority of the military police contingent comes from the lower classes of society, including needy communities, which makes our police officers part of the structural, historical and social context in which they operate. It is worth remembering that the Corporation was one of the first public institutions in the country to be commanded by a black man and today more than half of its staff of soldiers and officers is composed of Afro-descendants.”
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