[Fat Charlie]

It depends. As they say in the automotive world, YMMV.

It depends on who is doing the shooting and who is getting shot- loose ROE are a valuable tool in the hands of quality people, but the trouble is making sure all of your people are of a high enough quality because it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole barrel.

My ROE in Iraq had stages (mainly for idiots who could apply rules but not judgement). From the obvious (you see someone in an enemy uniform, your job is to shoot him) to the murky. The lowest threshold was if you "perceived hostile intent." The idea there was not to make the lowest private hold a trial inside his head before pulling the trigger when common sense said to shoot. In a world of language barriers and cultural differences (our hand signal for "stop" means something else there), things can go really wrong really fast- but if the kid reads it wrong, he shouldn't go to jail over it. The bottom line is: I would not have gone outside the berm of my little base if my ROE had not been that loose. I risked my life and the lives of my men by holding back, but I would not have gone out at all if it weren't entirely my call.

Parts of Brazil are... bad. They've allowed it (yes, if it's been going on for decades, the kids growing up in it and participating in it are "victims of society") to get that bad, and it needs to be stopped. If the Brazilian Army can't man checkpoints without lighting up innocent families and then making fun of them, then they need to do something else. Executing people for simply possessing something isn't the right answer, but let's examine the snipers: If they are basically hired assassins trying to keep the ruling party in power, it's bad. If they've got a more legitimate focus but are given rules that allow for them to use judgement, it's less bad. Think of an unarmed British Bobby walking a beat in Rio- he'd last two minutes. Now think of the same Bobby walking the same beat when everyone knows there's a sniper watching him. A sniper who isn't required to wait until you actually shoot the beat cop. The devil is in the details. But if it's done right, it just might work.

I can understand police down there not being willing to go out unless they can do what they need to do to protect themselves, but don't take that as an endorsement of this proposed law. It could be an improvement or just another loop in a downward spiral. Luckily for me, it's for Brazilians to figure out, not for the US to impose.