Rio de Janeiro Removes Tribute to Fallen Officers

08/18/2017 - 11h44

The local government of Rio de Janeiro removed, on Wednesday evening (16), memorial plaques in honor of fallen police officers and victims of fatal stray bullets, at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, in the South of Rio de Janeiro.

According to Comlurb, a company which provides cleaning services to the city, the plaques were removed at the request of residents.

The NGO responsible for the tribute, Rio de Paz, said it was not informed of the reason for the removal and that it did not receive any complaints.

The plaques, displaying the officers' names and circumstances of their death, had been installed on the fences encompassing the lagoon.

The spot chosen for the plaques, called "curva do Calombo", carries a symbolic meaning: it was the place where, in 2015, doctor Jaime Gold, 57, was stabbed to death by robbers.

Amidst Rio's public security collapse, at least one person is hit by a stray bullet every two days.

In 2017, one officer is killed every two days in the State. The figure includes officers killed on duty (21), off duty (56) and retired (20), all victims of violence.

At this rate, Rio will reach 200 cases in one year – the highest number was reached in 1994, when 227 policemen died.

Homicides skyrocketed in 2016, coinciding with the unprecedented financial crisis in Rio – it went from 118, in 2015, to 147, in 2016.

Translated by ANA BEATRIZ DEMARIA

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	Mauro Pimentel/AFP
	Military troops patrol Botafogo neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil