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Globe Live Media, Thursday, January 28, 2021

Rio de Janeiro, the most emblematic state and one of the most violent in Brazil, registered 3,536 homicides in 2020, 12% less than the 4,004 that occurred in 2019 and the lowest value for the indicator in 30 years, reported Thursday the Institute of Public Security.

The drop in crime rates was influenced by the social confinement measures implemented by the coronavirus pandemic that helped reduce crime, but also the number of complaints, according to the study released by the regional entity.

The figures show that all lethal violent crimes – homicide, robbery and personal injury followed by death – fell 18.2% last year compared to 2019, but homicides had the lowest rate since 1991, when the study began .

The same happened with the deaths of civilians at the hands of the police, which fell 31.7% compared to those that occurred between January and December 2019, when the record of 1,810 cases was registered.

Also, 2020 was the year in which fewer police officers died in Rio, 17 of them while on duty and 42 more while resting.

However, the drop in the number of civilian deaths at the hands of state agents was impacted by a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice that banned police operations during the pandemic since June last year.

This is because between April and May 2020, at the height of the covid, 65 people died at the hands of the uniformed during police operations, at a time when the region was paralyzed due to social confinement.

According to the report, between January and December 2020, robberies on the streets, vehicles and cargo also decreased, with a fall of 40%, 36% and 33%, respectively, in relation to those of 2019.

The figures are shown as a respite from the rates of violence that have been registered in Brazil, one of the most violent countries in Latin America.

According to data from the Brazilian Public Safety Yearbook 2020, between January and June of last year about 26,000 people were killed -one every 10 minutes- 7.1% more than in the same period of 2019, despite the restrictions implemented for the pandemic.

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