Fogo Cruzado

Instituto Fogo Cruzado or Crossfire Institute in English, is a non-profit organization that, since 2016, aims to track and end gun violence in Brazilian cities. Its team monitors gun violence in real-time, conducts data analysis to identify trends and inform the public, and partners within civil society stakeholders to develop participatory and democratic coalitions that pressure authorities to respect human rights and end gun violence. Fogo Cruzado has broken the State’s monopoly on armed violence data and now produces 40 exclusive indicators of armed violence in 49 Brazilian cities that are home to nearly 21 million residents. The data have been used to enact policy changes and have become essential for lawmakers, law enforcement agencies, the media, academics, and activists. Most importantly, the real-time data is available in an app that is used by citizens to stay informed about armed violence and avoid being caught in the crossfire.    Fogo Cruzado collects data on individual incidences of armed violence through OSINT sources, such as social media, as well as police sources, the news media, trusted local partners, and app users. All data is verified by a team of analysts before it is published by Fogo Cruzado. Each incidence of armed violence is aggregated in a database with additional details such as geolocation, timestamp, injuries, deaths, and presence of law enforcement agents.