Brazil's military police have been responsible for more than 1,500 deaths in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the last five years - mostly of young, black men, mostly in the city's favelas.  But despite a large number of the killings being illegal, there seems to be no significant official movement to reign in the police.

Amnesty International accuses Rio Police of wielding an "unnecessary and disproportional use of force" and suggests racism as a motive for the killings and for indifference.  Cops allegedly attempt to cover up police executions of suspects by planting guns on the corpses and claiming officers were forced to kill the victims in gunbattles.  Prosecutors then fail to follow up and investigate the killings, according to the rights group. 

Amnesty International's report says Rio de janeiro state has had 8,466 deaths from police intervention from 2004 through 2015.  in Rio de Janeiro state, 2004-15.  79 percent of victims were black in the years from 2010to 2013.  75 percent of the victims were young, aged 15 to 29-years old. a year before the 2016 Summer Olympics are to take place in Rio, Amnesty International Brazil's Atila Roque said Brazil's strategy to tackle its drugs and violence problem was "backfiring miserably and leaving behind a trail of suffering and devastation".

But the prosecutor's office in Rio de Janeiro state saya the numbers do not tell the full story.  587 police officers were charged and convicted in wrongful killings between 2010 and 2015.  And the Police Union Sindipol says being a cop is a dangerous job, and violence is common - 114 police officers were killed in 2014 alone.