HRW Commends Brazilian Bid to Curb Police Killings Human Rights Watch has praised a resolution by Brazil's Human Rights Defense Council outlining steps to reduce extrajudicial killings by police. In a statement Thursday, the New York-based organization says Brazilian police routinely "engage in unlawful violence, executing people and falsely claiming they died in shootouts." In a 2009 report, the organization estimated some 11,000 people were killed by police in Rio and Sao Paulo from 2003-2009. In its resolution Wednesday, Brazil's Human Rights Defense Council outlined steps to be taken in killings where police allege the victim resisted arrest. Those steps include promptly analyzing the crime scene and collecting witnesses' statements. The statement quotes Human Rights Watch's Americas Director, Jose Vivanco, as calling the resolution "encouraging." Brazilian "States could make real progress in reigning in police abuse," he's quoted as saying.