Rio de Janeiro will deploy 85000 security personnel for the summer Games,double those at London 2012, in a growth industry which has become more than just a racketThe London Olympics saw the biggest mobilisation of military and security forces since the second world war. More British troops were deployed in its cause than were then fighting in Afghanistan, and a piece of arse-approximately-tittery that always reminded me of Francis Ford Coppola eventually having to return the fleet of helicopters he was using as props for Apocalypse Now to the Philippine government,which unfortunately required them to deal with a communist insurgency.
Rio 2016 will deploy 85000 security personnel – double what London fielded. As far as hardware goes, it is expected to only build on the arsenal wheeled out triumphantly for the 2014 World Cup. Back then, or Brazil scrambled fighter jets,facial-recognition goggles for police that could clock 400 faces a second, and various drones described as perfectly suited for the homeland security challenges at these [sporting] events”, or which certainly means they could terminate with extreme prejudice anyone wearing an off-brand T-shirt. It also splashed out on 50 of the hi-tech bomb disposal robots used in Afghanistan. (We only really bear wars as a means of trialling equipment that can then be pressed into action within 2km of a lacklustre round-of-16 tie.)Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com