Local Organizing Committee CEO Trade Says Brazil Hopes To Phase Out Stadium Riot Police

Local Organizing Committee CEO Ricardo Trade said that Brazil "is hoping next year's World Cup will help the country move away from its standard practice of using riot police to keep order inside stadiums," according to Iain Rogers of REUTERS. As host, Brazil "is obliged by FIFA rules to use stewards to keep fans under control, with police on standby in case of serious trouble," and Trade said that the South American nation "was pushing to make this a permanent change." Trade said, "We want to have stewards inside the stadium as other countries are doing. It's obligatory to do this at the World Cup and maybe we could keep this system afterwards. The police will be there inside the stadium, but not with a thousand men." Trade said that his committee was working with the Brazilian football federation (CBF) and the government "to create a new profession of stadium stewards that would allow police to focus on maintaining order outside" (REUTERS, 4/5).