Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff inaugurated a new safety system yesterday, the Integrated Command and Control Center (Centro Integrado de Comando y Control—CICC), that will increase security in several cities—and soccer stadiums—through a coordinated effort among the police (federal, military and civil), the armed forces, the fire brigade, and public utility companies. This new safety system became operational just two days before Brazil kicks off the Confederations Cup —a two-week soccer tournament expected to attract over 350,000 tourists—and that will serve as a test of the country’s readiness for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016.
The first center became operational on Thursday in Brasilia, with the president’s announcement serving to inaugurate similar facilities in other Brazilian cities.
The command centers have been installed in the six cities hosting the Confederations Cup: Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Salvador, and Recife. Over the next six months, the enhanced security technology will also be installed in Manaus, Natal, São Paulo, Cuiabá, Curitiba, and Porto Alegre.
The centers are modeled after similar security technology in cities such as London, New York, Mexico City, and Madrid, and will receive real-time images of each stadium and the surrounding areas through fixed and mobile cameras installed on helicopters or police patrols. Unmanned aerial vehicles—small planes that flies over a stadium and monitor ground movement for up to 16 hours within a radius of 250 kilometers (155 miles).
Brazil Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo emphasized that the centers will “allow Brazil to strengthen the fight against organized crime and provide greater security for all its people.”
