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Since 1999, homicide rates have fallen by 70 percent statewide, and indices of armed robberies, vehicle thefts and other crimes also have dropped.
While the murder rate in Sao Paulo — 11 per 100,000 people this year— remains twice that of the United States , it's half the Brazilian average and only a fourth of the homicide rate in Rio de Janeiro state, where gun battles between state police and drug gangs have claimed hundreds of lives this year.
What's made the difference seems simple but is revolutionary in a country where police often enter poor neighborhoods with guns blazing.
State police have put more emphasis on gathering intelligence about the gangs they're battling before confronting them and are trying to avoid firefights that often kill the innocent, Marzagao said. At the same time, the state has brought more social services to abandoned areas where gangs have long ruled.
That's included launching "saturation operations" in which hundreds of police officers and social workers occupy troubled neighborhoods for months to weed out gang leaders and establish a government presence.
One such operation occupied Marques' neighborhood for nearly 90 days earlier this year, triggering an 80 percent drop in homicide rates there.
"Our plan is to plant the flag of the government where it's now absent," Marzagao said. "Because where in society or in poor communities there's an absence of authority, that's where the criminals go ..."
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