Just weeks ahead of the Olympic Games, "police helicopters are grounded, patrol cars are parked and Rio de Janeiro’s security forces are so pressed for funds that some have to beg for donations of pens, cleaning supplies and even toilet paper, fueling worries about safety at the world’s premier sporting event," according to the AP. Brazil is "suffering the worst recession in decades and Rio's acting governor declared a state of financial disaster this month, largely to bolster spending on security as the world's spotlight turns to the city." Governor Francisco Dornelles said, "How are people going to feel protected in a city without security? We can have a great Olympics, but if some steps aren't taken, it can be a big failure." Rio state has "slashed budgets across the board, including that of the police." Helicopters have been grounded and more than half of the civil police’s fleet of cars "has been idled in a bid to save on gas." Even officers’ salaries "have been delayed." Angry civil police officers "staged a strike on Monday," with one contingent greeting visitors at Rio’s international airport with a sign reading, in English: “Welcome to Hell. Police and firefighters don’t get paid; Whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe.” Some 85,000 police and soldiers -- "roughly twice the security contingent at the London Olympics" -- are to be deployed during the Aug. 5-21 Games, which are expected to "draw an estimated 350,000 to 500,000 foreigners to a city of 12 million people where armed muggings, stray bullets and turf wars between heavily armed drug gangs are routine." Dornelles last week declared a state of financial disaster that "paved the way" for R$2.9B ($895M) in emergency aid from the federal government. The funds "are earmarked for Olympic security -- fanning hopes that the situation of Rio's beleaguered police may improve." In a recent interview, Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso said, "We're at the limit of our operational capacity, and I can't discard the possibility of a collapse" (AP, 6/28).
PYEONGCHANG TELECOM DEAL: YONHAP reported PyeongChang Winter Olympics organizers signed an agreement with the state-run telecom research institute "to make the best use of their information and communications technology at Korea's first Winter Games." The PyeongChang Organizing Committee said that it "reached a memorandum of understanding with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute." Under the deal, the POCOG and the ETRI "will cooperate in five areas in need of ICT." The POCOG said that 5G mobile communications technologies "will be used at the Winter Games, helping visitors to enjoy high-speed communication services through their electronic devices." The POCOG and the ETRI "will also work on automatic translation services based on artificial intelligence" (YONHAP, 6/29).
