Taming slums and cops gone wild
In the midst of an unprecedented effort to fight lawlessness in Rio de Janeiro’s slums, the Civil Police force has been rocked by corruption allegations. Solana just summed up the latest today, but if you’d like a bit more context, read on.
The city falls under the ambit of various civil, federal and military police agencies, each playing a role in the city’s ongoing effort wrench slums from the grip of drug gangs. Police corruption is widely believed to have buttressed the power of these gangs, with cops being accused of selling traffickers weapons, protection and even tip-offs on the eve of police operations. As the frequency of police operations in the slums mounts, so too has the number of cop-on-cop investigations. The excellent blog Rio Real has a great roundup connecting dots among several recent slum operations and police corruption probes, calling the effort two sides of the same coin.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!