RIO DE JANEIRO -- Human Rights Watch said Thursday that a pattern of covering up police killings has thwarted efforts to curb violence in Rio de Janeiros slums ahead of the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil.Many of the people killed by police in recent years were unarmed, in custody or trying to flee, according to the 109-page report. Authorities have said that in most cases, the police had come under attack, but prosecutors told the rights group that in the majority of the cases there was no confrontation.The city is gearing up for the Olympic Games that begin on Aug. 5, with security as one of the main concerns. Rights groups have condemned the increasing use of excessive force in slums and outlying areas. Human Rights Watch said the lack of investigation and prosecution of officers to some extent unraveled a security overhaul that had shown progress.You cant be an effective police officer in a community if people distrust you, fear you, they even hate you, said Daniel Wilkinson, managing director of the Americas division at the organization. Its compromising any effort to improve public security and fulfill this promise for the Olympics.Rio police have had a long track record of carrying out extrajudicial killings with more than 8,000 deaths by law enforcement since 2006. However, Wilkinson said police killings dropped from 2007 to 2013 after an effort to reduce crime in violent slums through the use of a new community police force.But police killings have been rising in the past three years in Rio de Janeiro state, with 645 people killed in officer-involved shootings in 2015, compared to 416 in 2013.They failed to deal with this basic problem, which is that there are a lot of cases of police executing people, Wilkinson said. Theres almost zero accountability. These cases arent investigated, they are not prosecuted and people can get away with them. It was no surprise that after initial progress, the problem of police killings started to bounce back.The rate of 3.9 police killings per 100,000 people in 2015 is almost five times that of South Africas and nearly 10 times that of the U.S.The New York-based rights group interviewed 34 current and former police officers who detailed a culture of combat that rewards them for killing instead of arresting drug-trafficking suspects. They said they covered up killings by planting guns on victims, or removing them from crime scenes to deliver dead people at hospitals, destroying evidence in the process.The organization said it studied 64 cases and found that forensic evidence in half of them was inconsistent with officials accounts. Autopsies in 20 cases showed the dead had been shot at close range, something not typical of shootouts. The report also showed that Rio police killed five people for each person they injured from 2013 to 2015, a number the group says is the opposite of what one would expect.The investigative police are usually tasked with investigating police killings, but detectives often do not visit the scenes of the deaths or even interview all of the officers involved, the report said, adding that prosecutors filed charges in only 15 of the 3,441 police killings between 2010 and 2015.Wilkinson said some recent changes in the justice system bear some promise, such as turning officer-involved killings over to the states homicide division instead of neighborhood precincts. The group also recommends increasing the number of prosecutors who investigate only police abuse and improving internal investigations within the police.Rio de Janeiro state security officials did not respond to a request for comment. John Hannah Jersey . 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Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series.World No 3 Rory McIlroy admits it would be huge if he could improve on his poor record on home soil and win this weeks Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, live on Sky Sports. The tournament host has recorded just two top-10 finishes in nine tournament appearances and has missed the cut in his home event three years running.McIlroy heads to the K Club off the back of a tied-fourth finish at the Wells Fargo Championship and a tied-12th showing at last weeks Players Championship, where the Northern Irishman missed a chance to break the TPC Sawgrass course record. Rory McIlroys best finish came in 2008, when he ended the week in seventh spot The 27-year-old is the only player in the worlds top five yet to register a worldwide win in 2016, but McIlroy feels his game is in good shape to challenge for victory this week.My performances in this event, obviously over the past three years, but going beyond that, havent been what I would want, McIlroy said.I want to really change that this week with a good performance and I feel like my game is in good enough shape to do that.Im coming off a couple of decent weeks in the States where I felt like I played better than what the results suggested, so Im looking forward to the week. McIlroy posted a second-round 64 at TPC Sawgrass last week The K Club here is a golf course where I feel like I can do well on. Itt sets up well for me.dddddddddddd It would be huge (to win). I think anyone that plays professional golf, they dream of winning their home open.You dont get very many opportunities to do it, so it would be very special. Its definitely one tournament that is missing from my CV that I would love to add.McIlroy tees off alongside Andy Sullivan and defending champion Soren Kjeldsen for the opening two rounds in Kildare, while Masters winner Danny Willett has been grouped with Lee Westwood and Rafa Cabrera Bello. Andy Sullivan and Rory McIlroy went head-to-head in the final round of Novembers DP World Tour Championship The four-time major champion posted an opening round 80 and missed the cut at Royal County Down 12 months ago, but feels he has learnt from last years first stint at tournament host.I think there was times where I spread myself a little bit too thin last year with a lot of commitments and weve tried to scale that back a little bit this year, he added. I want to try to make this one of the best tournaments in the world and I feel like weve made a few good strides towards doing that.Once the tournament starts I really dont have many other commitments, so Im trying to really focus on the tournament when we get going.Watch the Irish Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf Also See: McGInley: Rory the man to beat Willett learning champion life Irish Open: 2015 highlights Golf live on Sky Sports 4 ' ' '
