Residents of outskirts crowd the Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law at the University of São Paulo (USP) was packed on Monday afternoon (25). Around a thousand people, mostly black and living on the outskirts, occupied all the seats and outside the institution’s Main Hall to participate in a public hearing on Operation Escudo e Verão.

In just its last phase, which began on February 7, the police operation led by the Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) administration killed 51 people in Baixada Santista. Added to Operation Shield in the second half of last year, the fatality rate reaches 79.

The intervention is led by former Rota police officer Guilherme Derrite (PL), temporarily removed from command of the Public Security Secretariat to, as a federal deputy, work in Brasília to prohibit the temporary release of prisoners in a semi-open regime.

More than 1000 people against police brutality filled the Noble Hall of the Faculty of Law at USP / Gabriela Moncau/Brasil de Fato

Organized by the Police Ombudsman’s Office, social movements and human rights organizations, the hearing launched the second report of a task force that collected complaints about summary executions and torture carried out by police officers on the coast of São Paulo.

Representation against Derrite

At the hearing, Dimitri Sales, president of the São Paulo State Council for the Defense of Human Rights (Condepe), announced that the body filed, this Monday (25), a representation at the São Paulo Public Ministry (MP-SP ) calling for Derrite’s dismissal due to administrative improbity and lack of transparency in relation to the police operation.

“None of the letters we sent to the Public Security Secretariat were responded to, and Derrite has a legal obligation, not just a moral one, to respond to our requests. The secretary cannot claim the need to preserve the confidentiality of information, because we are a State body”, stated Sales.

“Due to non-compliance with the law and the high lethality of the operations, we forwarded a representation so that Guilherme Derrite is prevented from holding public office,” he added.

The report

Signed by 13 entities — including the Arns Commission, the Justice and Peace Commission, the Tortura Nunca Mais Group, Conectas Human Rights, the Center for Human Rights and Popular Education (CDHEP) and the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB-SP) —, the report released this Monday was based on eight cases involving 12 fatal victims and two injured in the police operation in the cities of Santos (SP), São Vicente (SP) and Cubatão (SP). Among the people executed, 11 were black men, one of them with a disability.

The document alleges that summary executions, modification of crime scenes, lack of assistance, unfeasibility of forensic examination, long and short range rifle shots in lethal regions, threats to witnesses and omission of information in Police Reports (BOs) were found.

“The first recommendation we make is the immediate end of the police operation in Baixada Santista, call it Escudo, call it Summer. The police officers involved in these deaths need to be held accountable and the families need material and psychological support”, highlighted Samira Bueno, from the Forum Brazilian Public Security. “We cannot continue counting bodies.”

Among other recommendations in the report are the mandatory use of body cameras by agents involved in operations, the removal from overt duties of police officers involved in interventions that result in death, the expansion of the Military Police’s mental health system, the guarantee of autonomous investigation of police interventions, as well as protection and assistance to families of victims and witnesses.

“Revenge operations and police suicides intensified in São Paulo under the management of former Secretary of Public Security Guilherme Deritte, a former ROTA officer, who, with the approval of the current governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, has mobilized public security workers in the State of São Paulo to carry out a policy of death and disrespect for fundamental rights”, highlights the report.

When contacted, the Public Security Secretariat stated that “the State security forces are legalistic institutions that operate strictly within their constitutional duty, following strict operational protocols. Excesses, indiscipline or misconduct are not tolerated.”

“How long will we accept it?”

A resident of Vila Pantanal, in Santos, Janaína* told the public hearing that her brother died at 8:40 am on February 14. “She was shot five times with a rifle. In the Police Report (BO) they only mention three. This weekend there was another young man in my community who was murdered. He was 20 years old, having recently celebrated his birthday. And another young man was shot, they faked it and he was arrested,” she reported.

“It’s the same story, all the BOs. He just doesn’t see those who don’t want to. It’s the same weapon, the same exchange of fire. But there is no exchange of fire. In my community there were no exchanges of fire”, says Janaína. “Today I was afraid to come here because in the morning they already entered the shacks, put their foot in the door, scaring the population.”

“How long are we going to accept them coming into our community and killing?” asked a resident of Santos in protest / Gabriela Moncau/Brasil de Fato

“Alex, my best friend, was tortured at home. They broke his neck and his arm. Why are the police doing horrible things and everything is going on, as if nothing is happening? How long will we accept them coming into our community and killing?”, concluded Janaína to loud applause.

A resident of Vila Sônia, in Praia Grande, Tamara* reported that one of her neighbors was tortured by police officers. “They poured gasoline on this resident so that she would give information about criminals. They entered several houses, offered money to children so they could say something,” she reported.

Psychologist and human rights activist in São Vicente (SP), Patrícia Bueno Rezende reported that she has not seen so much fear since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. “There is a lot of fear of turning on the TV or picking up the cell phone and seeing the update on the number of deaths. We sleep worrying about what we’re going to see the next day,” she said.

Also from São Vicente, Francisca da Silva, leader of Comunidade México 70, described daily life as “constant terror”. “We came here to ask for justice. When winter arrives, we suffer from the violence of the sea destroying the shacks. When summer arrives, we suffer with the shacks being burned. And now the police are still coming to do this to us?”, she said. “What we need most is peace in the communities and justice.”

Sandra de Jesus, whose son, Luiz Fernando, was killed by Rota police officers in the south zone of São Paulo in January 2023, took the floor and said she was emotional. “Because today, here, the population is. Those who cry. That’s what you need.”

“Before he died, my son said ‘please, sir’. And the police officer positioned himself and shot him with a rifle at close range. After that, even help was denied. And it’s not me, Luiz’s mother, who I’m talking about. It’s the footage from the police officers’ body cameras. They said here that it is important to have cameras — yes. But more important than having cameras is having control. Because even with the cameras, my son was executed in a public square”, Sandra was outraged.

“What hurts me the most,” he continued, “is knowing that the police officers who killed my son went down to Baixada and continue killing. I turn on the TV and see them there. No judge, no authority is taking action. So are the cameras on their chests going to be used as decorations? No! They must be removed, judged and condemned. I won’t wish death on them because they have a mother. And the pain that I carry here every day — because I died that day — I don’t wish on their mother.”

“But I want them to have what they didn’t give my son. The possibility of appearing before a judge. Enough of killing our young people. Our Tiagos, our Tadeus, our Bryans”, shouted Sandra, while the audience repeated “justice”.

*Names changed to preserve sources.

Editing: Matheus Alves de Almeida