Rio de Janeiro, a city with chronic problems of police violence, will begin to implement cameras in the officers’ uniforms, a measure with encouraging results in Brazil, but in no case a “panacea” against abuse, according to experts.
Brazil has one of the police forces that kills and dies the most in the world: in 2021 there were more than 6,100 fatalities in police operations and 183 agents were killed, according to the Violence Monitor project.
“The police act with little transparency in Brazil and when there is a shooting and someone dies, the immediate response is “they attacked us during an operation, we responded and killed the aggressors” (…) With few exceptions, there is no accountability “, says César Muñoz, senior researcher for Brazil at Human Rights Watch.
“Body cameras can be useful both to document the actions of the police and to protect them from unfounded accusations,” adds the specialist.
About 8 by 6 cm, depending on the model, the cameras attached to the chest of the uniforms are increasingly used in states such as Sao Paulo and Santa Catarina.
And the first results look encouraging.
According to official data, clashes were reduced by 87% among units that have been using cameras in Sao Paulo since 2021, which has also implemented other measures, such as the use of non-lethal weapons.
In Santa Catarina, an academic study found that the devices reduced the use of police force by more than 60% since 2019.
The presence of the cameras also improved the registration of some crimes, such as domestic violence, which were reported by the agents with greater precision.
Eyes in Jacarezinho
Rio de Janeiro will soon begin to deploy some 8,000 cameras to patrol some neighborhoods, from the wealthy Copacabana to favelas such as Maré or Jacarezinho, reported the Military Police, which initially considered the date of May 16.
Jacarezinho was the scene a year ago of the deadliest police operation in Rio’s history: a raid against drug trafficking that left 27 “suspects” and a police officer dead.
If the agents had carried cameras “it would have helped to solve” several of the deaths, “even for the benefit of the police,” prosecutor André Cardoso, head of the investigations that culminated in the complaint of four policemen, told the G1 news portal and two dealers.
“When you look for evidence, you try to put together the puzzle, reconstruct the situation. If you have footage, you don’t need anything else,” said Cardoso, who considers the use of cameras “essential.”
These would also help gather evidence about other complaints that the Public Defender’s Office has frequently received in Jacarezinho: the occupation and looting of homes by police officers on duty, as documented by an inhabitant with hidden cameras in her apartment.
But “the cameras themselves are not a panacea. They have to be part of a broader policy” that includes more training and psychological support for the police, as well as truly independent investigations, warns HRW’s Muñoz.
Limitations
In Latin America, this tool has also been applied in countries such as Mexico to combat corruption among its agents and in Chile to monitor the actions of its police officers. Colombia has announced a pilot plan in Bogotá.
In Brazil, their success will depend in part on how they are applied, says Melina Risso, director of research at the Igarapé Institute, which specializes in public security.
“Will the camera be on 24 hours or is it activated? By whom? By the police themselves? Who supervises the recordings? How long are the images stored and what is their chain of custody? How is the privacy of the police and the others?” asks Risso.
In the São Paulo program, a silent recording of lower quality is played automatically throughout the policeman’s shift, who must activate a second, “intentional” recording of higher quality when called to action.
In Rio de Janeiro, the Military Police explained that the cameras will also record automatically and the images will be stored for about 90 days, among other protocols that will be adjusted as the program is implemented.