Military and civilian police killed a total of 130 people in the state of São Paulo in January and February 2026. With an average of two deaths per day, police lethality increased by 41% compared to the same period last year.
The numbers indicate that the upward trend in violence police officer persists after record statistics. From October to December last year, São Paulo had 276 deaths caused by police interventions, the highest number ever recorded in a quarter since the beginning of the historical series in 1996.
Now, the increase is driven by the resurgence of deaths in the metropolitan region of Baixada Santistawhich was once the scene of the most lethal Military Police operations under the government Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), Escudo and Verão. Triggered after police murders in Guarujá and Santosin 2024 and 2023, the two actions left an official toll of 84 deaths due to PM.
Two years ago, the total number of people killed by the PM in January and February was 147, mainly driven by Summer. In other words, the numbers for 2026 are close to those recorded in that period, even without a specific operation that concentrated the cases.
Baixada Santista had six deaths caused by police registered in January and February 2025. In the first two months of this year, there were 23 deaths, an increase of 283%. The numbers consider cases in which police officers were on duty and off duty.
In the same period, there was a drop in crime records in the state. This is the case of intentional homicide, for example, which had 392 cases in the first two months, a decrease of 7.5% compared to 2025 and the lowest number for the period in the historical series. The group of nine municipalities in Baixada recorded 20 murders in January and February, two more than in the previous year.
The number of robberies recorded in the state was also the lowest ever recorded for the first two months, while the number of thefts fell. A crime that continues to rise is the number of femicides, with 56 cases in January and February, the highest number since 2018.
When asked about the increase, the Public Security Secretariat under the Tarcísio de Freitas (Republican) administration stated that “it has intensified the fight against violent and organized crime, with the carrying out of highly complex and risky operations, which directly influences the type of occurrence faced by the teams.”
“In the area covered by Deinter-6 (Santos), intentional homicides, robberies and robberies in general also showed declines, with this last indicator reaching the lowest level since the beginning of the historical series”, says the note.
On the coast, deaths caused by PMs were concentrated in the municipalities of Guarujá, Santos and Cubatão. During this period, in two cases three people were killed at once: in Santos, on the afternoon of January 23; and in Cubatão, on January 30th.
In another case that entered the statistics of the period, on January 5, a 37-year-old military police officer killed a 21-year-old young man with a shot to the head after a traffic dispute in Brasilândia, north of the city of São Paulo. Corporal Leandro de Souza Assis, who was off duty, handed himself in and was arrested.
The argument began because there was no space for two cars to pass simultaneously on a street in the neighborhood. The PM paired his vehicle with that of the other driver — Bruno Lisboa Araújo, 21 — and the two began to argue.
The police officer said that Araújo partially opened the vehicle door, put one of his feet out and made to pull out a gun. The corporal stated that at that moment he took the pistol he was carrying and shot the young man. The police report says that no weapon was found on the victim.
With cases like this, deaths caused by police officers in the six months from September 2025 to February this year already exceed what was recorded in the entire year 2022 — when the police lethality reached its lowest levels over a period of 17 years.
Since the beginning of Tarcísio’s administration, the company’s Route (Rondas Ostensivas Tobias de Aguiar) and the Baep (Police Special Action Battalions) stand out amid the increase in police violence.
These battalions, which receive specialized training in combating armed groups and are considered elite troops within the São Paulo Military Police, were involved in incidents that ended in deaths not only with greater frequency, but also in a greater number of municipalities over the past year.
Known for its high fatality rateRota was the PM battalion that killed the most last year, with 67 cases. The majority occurred with officers on duty — 4 deaths were caused by off-duty police officers.
This year, Rota police officers have already been involved in 22 deaths, according to data from Gaesp (Special Public Security Action Group) of the São Paulo Public Ministry. If it maintains this pace for the rest of the year, the elite troops should surpass the number of deaths recorded last year.
Lethality and control of police actions has become one of the central themes of Tarcísio’s administration since the campaign. During the electoral race, in 2022, he announced his interest to end the PM’s body camera program.
After a series of criticisms, including the reduction in civilian and police deaths After implementing the equipment, he started to say that he would study changes, but without giving up on the idea. In December 2024, days after images circulated of a PM throwing a man off a bridge during an approach, Tarcísio stated that he had made mistakes in his criticism the use of the equipment.
Under his government, the PM hired new models, in which it is up to the police officer to activate the camera for recording to begin. The equipment can be activated automatically when another camera is connected to a 20 meter radius.
The number of deaths by police officers has risen every year since the beginning of the current administration. In the Escudo and Verão operations, seven cases were reported after the state Public Prosecutor’s Office understood that police officers killed people who posed no risk and tried to defraud evidence, often covering the lenses of body cameras.
The Public Security Secretariat said that “all incidents of death resulting from police intervention are rigorously investigated, with monitoring by the internal affairs bodies, the Public Ministry and the Judiciary. The circumstances of each case are analyzed individually, based on technical and expert elements”
The ministry also stated that “the São Paulo police do not condone excesses and misconduct, severely punishing all identified cases. Since 2023, more than 1,300 civil and military police officers have been arrested, expelled or dismissed from corporations, reinforcing the active role of the respective internal affairs departments.”
