Crime more than 'public safety challenges' for Rio 2016 bid

 

A police officer escorts a man shielding a child and two other civilians trying to reach safety after police intervened in an April 2007 gun battle between drug traffickers in the Morro da Mineira shantytown of Rio de Janeiro, where 13 people died. Two similar incidents occurred in Rio this week. Photo credit:  Ricardo Moraes / Associated Press)

About 24 hours before the International Olympic Committee's release on Wednesday of its evaluation commission report on the four finalists to host the 2016 Summer Games, a shootout between police and robbers described as drug traffickers forced the authorities to shut down a main artery near Rio de Janeiro's international airport for five to 15 minutes until gunfire stopped, depending on which newspaper report you read.

One major newspaper, O Globo, (the story linked is in Portuguese) said many motorists were forced to hide behind their cars or try to flee by making U-turns into oncoming traffic. The newspaper also said the suspects tried to throw a grenade at the police.

A day after the IOC evaluators' report euphemistically called crime in Rio "public safety challenges" that the city has addressed in a way "already showing positive results," the newspaper Folha reported that a gun battle between police SWAT teams cracking down on drug traffickers in a shantytown (favela) on Rio's south side led to the closing of three schools and two child care centers as a safety measure.

Such shootouts, involving either the police and criminals, or rival drug gangs fighting each other in the favelas, are not uncommon in Rio. (For proof, put the words "tiroteio" and "Rio" into the search mechanisms of either Google or YouTube.)

Both supporters of Rio's bid and Rubem Cesar Fernandes, founder of Viva Rio, a nongovernmental organization formed in 1993 "in response to the growing violence in Rio," maintain such incidents do not affect annual big events (Carnival, New Year's Eve) in the city and rarely occur in areas frequented by tourists. That argument apparently held sway with the IOC's evaluators.

As my colleague Alan Abrahamson pointed out in his blog on the evaluation report, the IOC language  was dramatically different from what it had used for Rio in the "safety and security" section of a March, 2008 working group report on the seven original 2016 bidders. The information in that report guided the IOC executive board in cutting the candidates to Rio, Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo.

This is what IOC said about Rio in 2008: "Crime in parts of Rio de Janeiro was considered to be an issue for the safety of people attending the Olympic Games. Should Rio be selected as a [finalist], assurances regarding protection and safety of persons traveling through certain parts of the city would be required.''

For what they are worth, such assurances must have been provided for the IOC to downplay the issue of crime, which has not confined itself to "certain parts of the city" over the months between the two reports.

The French newspaper LeMonde had a story last spring headlined "Panic at Copacabana." The story noted how the chic neighborhoods in the zona sul of the city went through three days of tension, including "12 hours of panic," in what it called "urban guerrilla warfare'' between police and drug traffickers from March 21 through 23.

Both U.S. rower Jamie Schroeder and U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling coach Steve Fraser can testify from their own frightening experience that safety is far from assured in even Rio's iconic and highly touristy areas.

Before I go any further, though, let me offer this disclaimer to those who will suggest that, given my media affiliation, I am attempting to undermine Rio's bid on behalf of Chicago's:

Chicago can hardly boast of being a crime-free, nonviolent city. Some 57 Chicago schoolchildren died as a result of street violence in the last two school years, and 501 were shot during the same period. Gun violence kills hundreds of people in Chicago every year, and there has been a spate of recent muggings in the tony areas of Lincoln Park.

Each one of those crimes is a deep, ugly scar on Chicago's reputation. Olympic athletes, coaches, officials and visitors would not be able to waltz around Chicago blissfully unmindful of potential crime, and they would undoubtedly be advised to avoid certain areas, day or night.

Yet, for better or for worse, the problems in Chicago have not escalated to levels where the police use armored cars, as they do in Rio, or where muggings are considered routine, as they are in Rio.

"When I was living here [Rio] in 2004, I was assaulted three times,'' said University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor Chris Gaffney in an e-mail from Rio, where he is spending six months on a Fulbright research grant. "It eventually happens to everyone in the city, regardless of neighborhood.''

It happened to the 6-foot, 8-inch, 220-pound Schroeder, a two-time Olympic rower, after lunch in the Santa Teresa neighborhood with his parents midway through the 2007 Pan American Games -- the biggest international sporting event in Rio's history.

Recounting the incident Friday, Schroeder said two men pulled up on a motor scooter, and one held a gun at his temple before robbing the Schroeders of $500, three credit cards and cameras. He said he spent the final week of the Pan Am Games feeling "danger or paranoia,'' despite staying in areas designated as safe by U.S. Olympic Committee officials.

"We still were allowed to be tourists, but they [the USOC] said they could not be responsible for us outside the designated areas,'' Schroeder said.

Wrestling coach Fraser, a gold medalist in the 198-pound class at the 1984 Olympics, fell prey to a seemingly coordinated criminal assault at dusk near his Copacabana hotel before the 2006 Pan American Wrestling Championships. The Detroit native blames himself for not using his well-honed street smarts during the incident, which ended when police found him unconscious on the street. [Note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said it was a daylight incident.]

After talking with locals at a stand that served as a bar on the beachfront walk, Fraser went with them to another such bar down the street. They bought him a drink that apparently was drugged, since the next thing Fraser remembers was waking up 15 hours later in a hospital, where he would spend a week recovering from being beaten and robbed of a $17,000 watch he regrets wearing in a place like Rio. 

"If I were going to be out and about with friends during a Rio Olympics, I would be more aware of what is going on,'' Fraser said. "As much as I want the Olympics to come to Chicago, I wouldn't be afraid to go back to Rio, and I think it would be safe if people were on their toes and follow smart safety procedures.''

Rio clearly would have a massive police deterrent during an Olympics, just as it did during the Pan American Games, when two locals told me they had driven one of the city's major expressways at night for the first time in years because it no longer was subject to crossfire from shantytowns on either side.

"We have a history of big events in Rio, and usually they are safe, in spite of the criminal situation in daily life,'' said Fernandes, the Viva Rio director. "And we have had good news in Rio and Brazil in terms of a decline in the level of violence since 2004. It has been very pronounced immediately in Sao Paulo and more gradual in Rio.''

Fernandes said the IOC report's statement about the impact of a "new approach'' to local policing refers to a program called UPP, or unit of pacifying and policing, which has combined police outreach as well as crackdowns in five Rio communities, with a goal of working in 40 communities by 2010. "That may be a bit too optimistic,'' Fernandes said, "but almost all new recruits are being used in that type of policing.''

Schroeder, finishing medical school at Johns Hopkins University and work on a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the National Institutes of Health, would prefer empirical evidence of the policy's effectiveness. 

"It seems their policing efforts may be of a vastly different scale than their crime problems,'' Schroeder said in an e-mail. "During the Pan American Games, the city was supposedly putting its best foot forward but ended up employing half-measures, like walling off neighborhoods and suggesting traveling only in `designated zones.'

"If they have a new solution to try in their policing, as the statement indicates, I think it would be wise to have legitimate proof that it works before trusting it will keep the participants and spectators of an Olympics safe.''

If safety were the main criterion, the 2016 Games should go to Tokyo, by far the safest of the four finalists.  But basing the Oct. 2 choice of the 2016 host only on that would be as ill-advised for the IOC as writing a report that gives Rio a pass on crime based on the city's plans and good intentions, which fly in the face of the gunfire that rent the Rio air before and after the report was released.

Bullet points are one thing; bullets are another.

-- Philip Hersh

Comments

[Wagner Sterck]

The violence in Rio is NOT in this level mentioned. In fact, it´s really better than Chicago, for example. The world would love Olympics Games in Rio. Who has already the oportunit to go there knows what I mean.

[Junior]

Hello ... I'm from Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais, another great ciadade Brazil.
The problem of violence in Rio de Janeiro, should be studied as its history, just not enough detail or criticize police operations, 2007, as something that happens every day ...
HISTORY OF THE CITY: If you do not know, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil since the Empire until 1960. After the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1889 .... Many of the freed then headed to Capital in search of better life, not only were the slaves here, also more people from other regions of Brazil .. The country is poor, still living be a reflection of Colonia Portuguesa, where they came make the best of our riches. These people without studies, without preparation, not able to secure good jobs, they lived the margin of the population. (This occurs in all parts of the World)
Thus the population was increasing, not having jobs for all, do the following things illicit increasing crime ....
In Brazil, at that period, did not have a policy as it exists today, that increase income and employment to all .... not to mention that the city is not great and neither was the industrial complex as Sao Paulo ...
Since the past decade, Brazil has grown economically and every city has had a positive impact from growth, the population that previously had no access to studies, colleges, has today!
In Rio, as the number of poor people are larger than in other cities .... it would take a longer time for this change to take effect ...
The 03 levels of government has made a great effort to change this, even without JJOO or FIFA World Cup 2016 .... The plan of an Olympiad in the City would make the infrastructure that are being made in the city, were utilized more .... and the preparation and the games themselves, changed their mentality about crime .. especially leaving a legacy of change for our children ... (The IOC considered the goal of the Games in the city .. that not only you!)
You would have to at least learn more about history and how the Games have helped to change the membership of the RIO .. Brazil has more money ..... no point constriction homes in place of slums without .. the population left the CRIME ..... the games would be a way to prevent the misuse of children for crimes ...
All cities in the world have similar problems or worse than Rio de Janeiro ... .. ever think that because of the terrorist attacks the city of New York, Madrid and others, can not receive events? and also London (where a poor police prepared a Brazilian killed by mistake in meters JEAN CHARLES), or even Chicago, where the Pan-American Games in Chicago in 1959 killed an athlete and it has not sent me a report on the case. The problem is that everyone harnesses the pants to the United States and they are not aware of ninguém.O athlete Ronaldo Duncan Arantes, 26, was found dead with a bullet in the chest. The circumstances of his death were not resolved until TODAY!
Unfortunately, while the police of Rio de Janeiro, make operations against crime, but will have these wars urban ... more this happens the world over, this week that Paris has been at war against the protesters by the lack of jobs .. .. while President Nicola is in Brazil to ride!

www.rio2016.com.br Brazil

[EWERTON NAZARETH]

A L E R T !!!

Rio 2016 Blog

On October 2, 2009, Rio de Janeiro may be elected to head the Olympics and Paralympics in 2016.

If chosen, you have to organize an event for about ten thousand athletes from 200 countries will compete in 30 sports. Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo also compete. The LANCENET! Then provides this space for you, reader, provide feedback and follow the preparation of the application.

Sad image
posted by Michel Castelar

The Bid Committee Rio-2016 has retaliated to the attack from the United States. Organizers of Rio de Janeiro issued an application note which repudiate the episode of "Law & Order", aired on Thursday.

In the crime drama, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was murdered for having voted in Tokyo to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016.

Arrested, the murderer confessed that he committed the crime after striking a deal with the Brazilian authorities. After all, if the river was the host city chosen, the killer would be responsible for the security of the Games.

"For the episode of the series appears in the U.S. by USA Network and the AXN channel in Brazil, which used the name of the Brazilian candidacy to the Olympics, the 2016 Rio committee expresses its condemnation of the irresponsible and reckless use of the image of the Brazilian candidate, lying on the campaign to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The committee based its action in this dispute in ethics, integrity and full respect for their competitors, "he wrote in a note to Rio in 2016.

The sad thing about all this is to see the image of Brazil appears pejoratively. Because, the show also showed the story of the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), in which a prostitute want to come to Rio get a rich husband.

As a friend of mine would say, these Americans are completely clueless. Absurd!

CLEAN GAME?? OLYMPIC SPIRIT?

[RuFF]

It seems to me that the Chicago Tribune owned Los Angeles Times is again favoring Chicago, as it did in the preliminaries when the USOC was choosing a US City to move forward for the official US entry into the Olympic competition. Then, if I recall correctly, the Tribune and Chicago papers constantly touted Chicago as an Olympic City, while Los Angeles, who had and continues to have a higher approval for the Olympics by it's populace, hardly had any articles about the Olympics posted. I'm pretty confident in saying Rio will host the 2016 Olympics. Los Angeles, if they can recover their paper, will likely be the next U.S. city to host an Olympiad again. Sorry Tribune, your take over of an LA paper isn't going to work. BTW, when LA hosts the games in let's say, 2020, or 2024.. (Even better in 2032 to celebrate it's centennial of first having hosted the Olympics) LA will have high speed rail, an increased public transportation system, and a revamped image, what LA is famous for doing.

[Jrob]

Amazing. I've visited Rio de Janeiro four times for business and pleasure and I have never seen this violence that is supposedly so prevalent. Of course, I was not roaming around Cidade de Deus at 2 a.m. looking for drugs or sex, and I don't wear my diamonds to the beach, so that might have something to do with it.
I also have visited Chicago dozens of times and have never been robbed, shot or assaulted, simply by using my common sense.

It troubles me that reporters try to paint one city as better based on one statistic, rather than looking at what elements would make a strong host city.
In my humble opinion, Chicago doesn't need the Olympics. It is already a world class city and not much would change after the Games.

However, sending the Olympics to a city like Rio, where many of its inhabitants have suffered in abject poverty under its caste system since slavery, would signal a major change for Brazil.

[Solo]

All cities are world class cities, but CHICAGO is the only city that can show true DIVERSITY for the games and represent the US in the best possible way.

CHICAGO 2016 has a great venue plan, security & world class culture to offer visitors, media & athletes. As much as CHICAGO is a world class city, it has a lot of infrastructure needs that would benefit the city for the next 100 years.

Tokyo does not need the Olympics in 7 years.

Madrid's plans are truly boring & not organized.

RIO has the 2014 World Cup ( which will lose sponsorship money & marketing for 2016 ) + SAFETY is very important and
by limiting visitors & athletes to certain areas greatly diminishes the experience. Rio would give the best INTRO to the olympics out of the four cities, but that is it.
Their olympic plan is not compact and does not have the accomodations ( they want to put people on boats ) for an event this size. Pan-Am 2007 & 2014 World Cup are great events & hopefully by 2020/2024 - RIO will be ready.

CHICAGO / United States Olympics will bring in the Revenue, TV viewers, celebrities, OBAMA, OPRAH, world class athletes (Jordan, Ali, Lebron, Phelps, Tiger) & compact games.

[Mike]

"Yet, for better or for worse, the problems in Chicago have not escalated to levels where the police use armored cars, as they do in Rio, or where muggings are considered routine, as they are in Rio."

That pretty well sums it up.

The crime stats are public domain. I know that stats like these can't possibly tell the whole tale. Still, it's an important factor.

Chicago isn't perfect by any means. But, Rio should take the $14 Billion it has budgeted for the Olympics and invest it in schools, police and other infrastructure. It looks like a beautiful city - one I would love to visit someday when this aura of violence is gone.