Police Officers or Murderous Thugs?

The car caring Joao Roberto Amaral, age 3, when he was murdered by Rio police.
photo credit: O Globo

Rio's most disgraceful were at it again this week. This from the Washington Post:

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Police killed at least eight people in a raid on drug traffickers in a Rio de Janeiro slum, a spokesman said on Friday, following widespread anger and fear over police brutality in recent weeks. [1]

And from the same article...

Earlier this week, a street vendor and a motorist were shot dead in botched police operations in the famed tourist city. [2]

According to a police spokesman, those killed were allegedly involved in the drug trade. The problem is, every time the police kill someone here, they are 'allegedly involved in the drug trade'. Sadly, they usually get away with these acts of murder, unquestioned by the mainstream world of the 'asfalto'...except when the 'alleged criminal' is three years old. When this is the case, even the Rio secretary of security, Jose Mariano Beltrame, must acknowledge his boys fucked up big time:

"There are no apologies for such a tragedy. This was a disastrous incident. As a father and a police officer, I am ashamed at what happened....There was a total lack of preparation and discernment on the part of the police." [3]

So what exactly did happen? This from Canada.com:

Two police officers late Sunday fired 15 shots into the car carrying the killed boy, Joao Roberto Amaral.

He was hit in the back of the head, in the buttocks and in an ear, and was declared brain dead after being taken to hospital.

His nine-month-old brother who was with him was unhurt, while his mother, Alessandra Amaral, who was driving the car, was hit with fragments.

The father, taxi driver Paulo Roberto Amaral, told reporters after arriving at the hospital that the police "shot up my wife's car without any possibility of defense. There were kids in the car. They almost killed my entire family."

Witnesses said it looked as if the police had confused the car with another being driven by suspects being pursued. [4]

WTF? WTF? WTF?
Am I the only one who feels that even if the popo had the right car, it probably wasn't the best idea to let loose with a torrent of automatic weapon fire in the middle of traffic? In every article I could find online about this incident, there was not one reference to what the actual suspects were accused of. Perhaps this is because this is information that would only further embarrass the 'police'. Who knows... maybe the 'police' had been dispatched by a criminal faction to take out memebrs of a rival faction. Sound far fetched? Not really. From the BBC:

...11 soldiers were accused of involvement in the deaths of three young men from the shanty town of Providencia, one of hundreds of such favelas in Rio de Janeiro.

Three of the soldiers - including the lieutenant in charge of the unit - are said by police to have confessed to having handed over the men to a drug gang in a neighbouring district.

There, they were tortured and killed, before their bodies were thrown onto a nearby rubbish dump.

The soldiers had earlier arrested the three men after accusing them of showing disrespect, and a lawyer for the lieutenant has said they did not think the men would be killed by the drug gang. [5]

Wha? Huh? Makes your head spin, doesn't it. Another argument put forth containing zero logic. They didn't think the rival drug gang would kill them? What the fuck were they even doing delivering them to a rival drug gang, facilitating a game of inter-favela futbol?

Last year alone, police murdered 1,330 'suspects' in Rio alone, a 25% increase over the previous year [6]. Rio's governor, Sergio Cabral, would have you believe that such lead fisted tactics are required to combat the problems of the favelas. In my opinion, schools, health care, infrastructure, economic opportunity and a general inclusiveness into the society at large would be more effective 'weapons'.

I was reminded today of a quote by the great R. Buckminster Fuller... "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
something, build a model that makes the existing model obsolete."

Word.