EXECUTIONS

32Of these media-reported cases attributed to police and deathsquads, in more than four-fifths, or 81.79%, police were cited as the killers,35while death squads were reported as responsible for 16.90%.These alarmingly high figures suggest tacit approval by Brazilianauthorities of killings by police and death squads, approval of an unofficialdeath penalty applied with great frequency in Brazil.Table 02:Distribution by Action of Groups (Media-Reported HomicidesAttributed to Police and Death Squads,1999)Victims by Action of GroupsFrequency%Military and Civil PoliceDeath SquadsPenitentiary AgentsArmed ForcesTOTALSource: MNDH Database9391941141,14881.79%16.90%0.96%0.35%100.00%Within this universe of media-reported homicides committed bypolice and death squads, 48.34% were attributed to on-duty militarypolice, as the table below demonstrates. If we add to this figure thenumber of media-reported homicides attributed to on-duty civil police,the figure reaches 667, or 58.09% of the total.It is important to note that the military police employ many moreofficers that the Civil Police and that the former, due to the nature of theirpatrol duties, are far more likely to encounter situations of armed violence.It is worth noting, however, that while the number of persons killed by ondutycivil police is high, off-duty military police kill with greater frequency,as shown below. Still, the fact that Civil Police, charged with investigativeduties, were responsible for 8% of the total of media-reported homicidesattributed to police and death squads, provides reason for concern.35. The principal role of the Civil or Judiciary Police, is to investigate crimes. Military police, by contrast,are uniformed law enforcement agents charged with patrolling and preventing crime.