The theft of high voltage cables and wires increased by almost 20% between 2018 and 2022 in Rio. It has even damaged the power supply in some areas. In 2018 there were 18 incidents and this year, until August, 332 incidents. The most affected neighborhood was Recreio dos Bandeirantes (South Zone), followed by São Cristóvão and Ramos (both in the North Zone). The lack of electricity not only affect homes, which are the main consumers, but also, businesses and schools, they all end up being affected.
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19/11/2022 – A retired Military Police officer was found dead in Campo Grande, West Zone. According to the Military Police, officers of the Campo Grande Battalion were called to verify an occurrence on a street in the neighborhood and, when they arrived, they found the victim already dead.
20/11/2022 – Three days in a row of shootings between criminals and police in the Jacarezinho favela caused by criminals trying to regain control of the drug trade. On Friday (18), the shootings, in several parts of Jacarezinho, started in the morning. In the early afternoon, the shops on Rua Amaro Rangel closed their doors. The road is 450 meters from Cidade da Polícia and close to the bases used by the Cidade Integrada program. On Saturday (19), shots began to be heard before 5:00. Images on social media showed police officers from the Shock Battalion patrolling alleys in the locality and searching residents. Two military police officers from the Battalion of Actions with Dogs (BAC) were shot. On Sunday (20), the shootings left at least one dead and six people shot.
20/11/2022 – Civil Police are looking for the two men that assaulted two women at a restaurant in Copacabana, South Zone. According to the victims, one of the attackers said he was a police officer and punched the two women. Victims reported that it started when a young man approached the table where the two criminals were. According to them, the boy asked for food to the men who were talking. After the request, one of the attackers would have humiliated the young man, who was defended by one of the women. After the first assault, the woman began filming the aggressor. In the footage, he appears annoyed walking towards her and slapping her phone. The victim says she received another punch.
20/11/2022 – A dentist was shot in a robbery on Dois de Fevereiro Street, in Engenho de Dentro, North Zone. The criminals announced the robbery, he and his wife surrendered and, even so, he was shot. They took the victims’ car, documents and cell phones.
21/11/2022 – Police officers arrested a man who kept a Swedish citizen in private prison in the Babilônia community, in Leme, South Zone. The Swedish woman met the criminal in Pedra do Sal, in downtown Rio, 20 days ago and 10 days ago she moved in with him. She would return to Europe on Tuesday (22/11). According to the police, during the period, he started to get violent, and she said that she wanted to leave. He would then have withheld her apartment keys and her phone. On Saturday (19/11), the victim managed to send a message to friends she met on the beach, and they went to the police station to report it.
22/11/2022 – Two people were shot on Rodrigo Silva Street, in downtown Rio. The victims were in front of Nossa Senhora do Parto Church. The reason behind the shooting is still unknown. According to the Segurança Presente, a man passing on the street and a church employee were wounded by the shots.
23/11/2022 – A 52-year-old military police officer was shot and died while passing through the Cavalo de Aço favela in Senador Camará, West Zone, to escape a traffic jam. According to witnesses, he would have entered the region by mistake and, upon verifying the presence of criminals, he got scared and tried to leave abruptly.
23/11/2022 – A 46-year-old truck driver was shot in the head on Estrada do Taquaral, Vila Aliança, West Zone. He was carrying a freight from Minas to Rio with an assistant, when, on Avenida Brasil, the GPS informed him of an alternative route to get out of traffic.
Our analysis:
The cases of murder or attempted murder that took place on Wednesday (23/11) against a military police officer and a truck driver who mistakenly entered two favelas in Rio are no exception in the state. Since October 2021, there have been at least five other occurrences of shots fired at cars that ended up in communities due to inattention or lack of knowledge on the part of drivers – two people died and five were wounded. The context is mostly the same. Drivers enter favelas unaware of the risks and end up being attacked by members of criminal gangs, who fear attacks by rivals. The cases show the high risk of driving in Rio. Shortly before the 2016 Rio Olympics, on account of the succession of cases involving drivers who entered favelas by mistake, one of the main GPS apps, Waze, launched a resource that mapped 25 areas in which users “may be at greater risk of crime”. Drivers began to receive an alert when the route drawn included those regions.
24/11/2022 – A shooting between armed criminals in a car and the military police took place on Avenida Leonel Franco, in Gávea, South Zone. A criminal was injured. After the shooting, the police seized the car used by the criminals. In it, they found a gun, a magazine and ammunition.
