Rio de Janeiro police face 'image problem'

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/brazil/la-fg-ff-brazil-police-violence-20140411,0,7716090.story



A Brazilian military police officer carries out a patrol in the Complexo da Mare slum in Rio de Janeiro. Seeking to improve public safety, police have established a permanent presence in many of the city's slums.

Rio de Janeiro police face 'image problem'
By Vincent Bevins
April 11, 2014, 4:00 a.m.

RIO DE JANEIRO — As the 2014 World Cup tournament nears, efforts to reform Rio de Janeiro's police forces remain, like many of the Brazilian soccer stadiums themselves, a work in progress.

Seeking to improve public safety, police have established a permanent presence in many of the city's slums, and attempted to replace sporadic, war-like operations against criminals with numbers-based community policing. Now, some of the city's slums, known as favelas, are considered safe for tourists.

But law enforcement officers here remain widely accused of human rights abuses, and many question whether the long-troubled police force has changed enough to win the people's trust and create a safe environment for Rio residents.

Two months before the international soccer tournament kicks off, the commanding officer of the largest police operation to "pacify" a favela in the city is behind bars, along with 12 underlings, awaiting trial on charges of torture and murder of a construction worker, whose body remains missing.