Brazilian police killed more than 11,000 people between 2009 and 2013 at an average of six a day, a public safety group revealed today.
The study by the Sao Paulo-based Brazilian Forum on Public Safety said police nationwide had killed 11,197 people over the five years.
Law enforcement agents in the U.S. had killed 11,090 in the past 30 years.
The figures emerged amid reports that a rogue unit of police officers were suspects in the massacre of 10 gang members earlier this month in apparent revenge for the death of a colleague.
The report said: 'The empirical evidence shows that Brazilian police make abusive use of lethal force to respond to crime and violence.'
In addition to using excessive force, Brazilian police frequently execute suspects, said Bruno Paes Manso of the University of Sao Paulo's Centre for the Study on Violence.
He called it 'a practice rarely investigated'.
There were 416 people killed last year in Rio de Janeiro state, giving it the highest per-capita rate.
The study said 50,806 people were killed in all homicides last year, about one every 10 minutes.
Nearly 70 per cent were black and more than half were aged 15 to 29, it said.
In the latest case of alleged attacks by renegade police, a gang was reportedly gunned down in a six-hour killing spree by officers on motorbikes.
The co-ordinated attacks came hours after a mysterious and sinister warning began circulating on an instant messaging app telling residents to stay off street corners.
Video also emerged purportedly showing one of the officers in a Scream mask threatening to kill 'at least 30 thugs' shortly before the rampage.
Shocking footage and pictures later began circulating online apparently showing relatives and friends sobbing over dead bodies of the victims.
Tensions surfaced in the northern Brazilian city of Belem last Tuesday after police officer Antonio Marcos da Silva Figueiredo, 43, was gunned down by three men outside his home.
Video of gang members reportedly threatening to kill police officers later appeared on Facebook.
Within hours of the shooting, rumours of an impending revenge attack began circulating on social media.
A message also sent to terrified residents through the instant messaging service, What's App, warning them not to leave the house.
According to the BBC, it read: 'Don't go to Guama, Canudos or Terra Firme tonight. It concerns your security. One of our policemen was killed and we will be cleaning the area.
'There's no stopping any of us, not even the highest colonel. The boys are on the loose. Please stay at home. Don't go hanging out on street corners.'
The message is believed to have originated from one of the renegade officers.
Witnesses claim the police officers then went on a six-hour shooting spree on motorbikes, dragging victims from cars and executing them in the street.
Source:www.dailymail.co.uk
The study by the Sao Paulo-based Brazilian Forum on Public Safety said police nationwide had killed 11,197 people over the five years.
Law enforcement agents in the U.S. had killed 11,090 in the past 30 years.
The figures emerged amid reports that a rogue unit of police officers were suspects in the massacre of 10 gang members earlier this month in apparent revenge for the death of a colleague.
The report said: 'The empirical evidence shows that Brazilian police make abusive use of lethal force to respond to crime and violence.'
In addition to using excessive force, Brazilian police frequently execute suspects, said Bruno Paes Manso of the University of Sao Paulo's Centre for the Study on Violence.
He called it 'a practice rarely investigated'.
There were 416 people killed last year in Rio de Janeiro state, giving it the highest per-capita rate.
The study said 50,806 people were killed in all homicides last year, about one every 10 minutes.
Nearly 70 per cent were black and more than half were aged 15 to 29, it said.
In the latest case of alleged attacks by renegade police, a gang was reportedly gunned down in a six-hour killing spree by officers on motorbikes.
The co-ordinated attacks came hours after a mysterious and sinister warning began circulating on an instant messaging app telling residents to stay off street corners.
Video also emerged purportedly showing one of the officers in a Scream mask threatening to kill 'at least 30 thugs' shortly before the rampage.
Shocking footage and pictures later began circulating online apparently showing relatives and friends sobbing over dead bodies of the victims.
Tensions surfaced in the northern Brazilian city of Belem last Tuesday after police officer Antonio Marcos da Silva Figueiredo, 43, was gunned down by three men outside his home.
Video of gang members reportedly threatening to kill police officers later appeared on Facebook.
Within hours of the shooting, rumours of an impending revenge attack began circulating on social media.
A message also sent to terrified residents through the instant messaging service, What's App, warning them not to leave the house.
According to the BBC, it read: 'Don't go to Guama, Canudos or Terra Firme tonight. It concerns your security. One of our policemen was killed and we will be cleaning the area.
'There's no stopping any of us, not even the highest colonel. The boys are on the loose. Please stay at home. Don't go hanging out on street corners.'
The message is believed to have originated from one of the renegade officers.
Witnesses claim the police officers then went on a six-hour shooting spree on motorbikes, dragging victims from cars and executing them in the street.
Source:www.dailymail.co.uk