85 000 security personnel to be deployed for Rio Olympics

RIO DE JANEIRO – Muggings, crowd violence, a terrorist attack – there are a lot of potential problems to keep Olympics security chiefs in Rio de Janeiro awake at night a year before the 2016 Summer Games.

With more than 10 000 athletes and hundreds of thousands of fans to protect, Rio says it’s taking no chances, deploying 85 000 security forces – double the 40 000 used at the 2012 London games.

Brazil is a violent country, with an estimated 52 000 murders a year, and Rio sees more than three of those murders every day.

However, Brazil has successfully hosted a string of megaevents in the last few years, including the 2012 UN Rio+20 Environmental Summit attended by 191 countries, a visit by Pope Francis, the Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup finals.

“No other country has hosted so many events in such a short time. And this gave us great experience that we can apply to the Games,” Rio’s public safety chief Andrei Passos Rodrigues told a news conference. Although Rio crime stats have dipped, they remain extremely high, with an average of 3.4 murders daily in the first half of this year. Violence in Rio often grabs the local headlines, adding to a general atmosphere of fear.

Whole areas of the financial centre are considered dangerous to walk at night, while most residents would currently refuse to go to the marina hosting the Olympic sailing contests except by taxi, because of the adjacent park’s reputation for muggings.

Still, by flooding the streets with some 47 500 security personnel, officials say they can guarantee a trouble-free city during the two weeks of the Games.

The country must “never lower its guard,” Rodrigues said.

Brazilian officials say they are working with counterparts from more than 90 countries to protect against militant attacks, and with Interpol to develop a strategy against cyber attacks.