In 2021, Brazil registered a drop in police lethality for the first time since 2013, when the historical series began. There were 6,145 people killed last year due to interventions by active civil and military police, on or off duty.
This is a 4% drop compared to the previous year when 6,413 people died due to State agents. The survey is part of the 16th yearbook of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, released this Tuesday (28), and does not include deaths caused by federal agents.
While the rate of Black people killed by the police grew by 5.8%, among whites this rate dropped by almost 31%.
Sixteen states saw their police fatality rates drop between 2020 and 2021, with one of the most expressive drops in São Paulo (30%), where police officers started using cameras attached to uniforms last year.
According to the data, 11 states showed a rise in police lethality in the last year. In Rio de Janeiro, there was an 8% increase in deaths from police intervention.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon