Rio de Janeiro politicians have ignited a public firestorm. They voted to reinstate a controversial anti-terrorism policy of awarding civil police officers with bonuses for ‘eliminating’ cops suspected of criminal behavior. The legislation sailed through the Energy Committee with a unanimous and impressive vote of 47 to 15. It addresses public security by providing civil police a bonus gravada entre 10% e 150% de seus salários for seizing high-caliber weapons and eliminating criminals. Activists and community leaders are just as quick to condemn the re-enactment of this law. In fact, they see it as a dangerous return down to the violent-on-crime policies of the 1990s.
That highly controversial initiative dates to the mid-1990s. At the time, then-governor Marcello Alencar proposed the same legislation and a wave of extrajudicial executions throughout Rio’s favelas. Carlos Minc, an influential leader in repealing the “wild west” law in the 1990s, expressed his concerns. He says this time lawmakers are repeating the same mistakes of the past. Research from that era indicated that 64% of the 1,200 individuals killed “in combat” were shot from behind, raising alarms about unjustified police violence.
Activists have described the new law as a “perverse stimulus to state violence.” António Carlos Costa emphasized its implications, stating, “This bonus encourages extrajudicial killings. It is an invitation to slaughter.”
Henrique Vieira labeled the legislation as “stupid, bizarre, inhumane, cruel, expensive and inefficient,” while Marcelo Freixo warned that it would disproportionately impact young Black men residing in favelas. Freixo further asserted, “Police deserve to be paid more – but not for killing people.”
Supporters of the law, like Alexandre Knoploch, claim it’s an important tool to fight crime. Knoploch stated, “If you’re carrying a rifle, you have to be neutralized,” drawing parallels between this policy and the anti-crime measures currently being implemented in El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele.
Critics fear that the law could effectively grant police a “carte blanche to apply the death penalty in the favelas,” as articulated by Renata Souza. The reintroduction of this policy raises chilling implications for state-sanctioned violence. We believe it would have detrimental effects on civil liberties and community safety.