Monday, July 12, 2010

Security ops for 2014 World Cup

By Sorrel Moseley-Williams

Although the 2010 World Cup final will take place in South Africa in a mere 24 hours, Brazil has already shifted the current host slightly left of centre stage by confirming its security consultant for the worlds biggest sporting event in 2014.

Israeli firm International Security & Defence Systems (ISDS), a consultancy involved in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, was confirmed as the Brazilian choice for the next FIFA World Cup on Thursday evening.
Although Sao Paulo, Latin Americans wealthiest and most populous city, has yet not been confirmed as a host city, it is currently Rio de Janeiro with the residents from its 600-plus favelas which could up the urban crime rate by targeting visiting fans.

A few weeks ago, Brazils Tourism Minister Barretto Filho said the 2014 host nation would attract more than five million tourists, a substantially larger figure than South Africa which has supposedly received around 350,000.

But dealing with high visitor numbers does not pose a problem for ISDS. Leo Gleser, the security firms president and founder, spoke to the Herald from South Africa.

“In fact we are involved with this years Shanghai Expo which has 78 million people visiting over the course of six months. We are not afraid of dealing with those numbers.

“Next year, Brazil will be hosting the Military Games, a huge event which is bigger than the Olympics with 132 countries participating. The G20 Summit will take place in Rio in 2012, the Confederations Cup will also be held in Brazil in 2013, and the Olympics take place in 2016. It’s a catapult of six years, and Mr. Lula made it very clear today that Brazil is a very serious country.

“I believe that Brazil has a huge economical resolve and that Lula has done a lot of things to put everybody within this economic cycle to get people working and eating.”

Although Brazil is renowned for its economic and sporting prowess, despite the national team only reaching the quarter finals this year, the favela underbelly is also synonymous with the country. With thousands of people living in 600-plus shantytowns, it seems likely that urban crime could be an issue in four years time.
“Brazil isnt fighting its integrating people from the favelas into a better life. Some countries think that security is about shooting. But sometimes security is about understanding the needs of the people and their needs are to work, to be educated, to have healthcare and infrastructure Brazil is now relocating people from the favelas.”
Having spent the past two and a half weeks in Johannesburg, Gleser added what he would be taking away from the 2010 World Cup. “I’ve been here many times and there has been a big change from the people. Everyone is very welcoming and well-educated nobody tries to cheat you and the services industry has been very good. All the bars and cafes in Johannesburg are full, but the reality is that South Africa is not easy — i’ts a problematic country.”

Also discussing the security issue for 2014, Ricardo Teixeira, Brazil’s soccer federation president, said on Thursday: “We sent a huge security group to South Africa, they were here for a few days and they had to analyze the situation and pick on those issues that needed to be sorted.”

Source

No comments:

Post a Comment