2016 Olympic Games – Mapping of crimes reported by residents in the environs of the Olympic venue at Deodoro

With a  view to the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to be held in South America for the first time, Maureen Flores, who holds a PhD in Public Policy from Rio de Janeiro Federal University and specialises in innovation in sport, and Professor Walkir Brito MSc (Computer Science), have partnered with the Rio de Janeiro crime watch hotline, Disque-Denúncia, to study the number and type of crime reports received from the environs of the Olympic venues between January 2013 and October 2015.

 Of a total of 178 types of crime specified in the data base of the Disque-Denúncia crime watch hotline, the researchers opted to work with only four: crimes against property, drug trafficking, crimes against the human person, plus the presence of arms and explosives. For that survey, they marked out the four Olympic areas of the city (Deodoro, Maracan?, Barra da Tijuca and Copacabana) where sports events of the 2016 Games are to take place.

 On the first map produced for this study, the Deodoro Olympic area included 7 neighbouring districts. This area will host the mountain bike, slalom, BMX, pentathlon, show jumping and shooting competitions. In the time periods delimited for the study, 10,132 complaints were filed in that area: 39% corresponding to drug trafficking (red diamond), 27% to the presence of firearms (yellow star), 23% to crimes against property (light blue circle) and 11% to crimes against the human person (blue balloon).

Reports of drug trafficking, which held steady through 2013 and 2014 (at 1,534 and 1,551), could well decrease by an average 36% in 2015 if the trend curve holds. Complaints of crimes against property also changed little in 2013 and 2014 (at 840 and 857) and, on the same reasoning, could well decrease an average of 16% in 2015. Crimes against the human person – which, in 2013 and 2014, accounted for 412 and 404 complaints – could also decrease in 2015 by an average of 25%. Lastly, reports of the presence of arms and explosives, which increased from 997 to 1,150 between 2013 and 2014, could decline by an average 35% in 2015. Note that these figures do not necessarily reflect a possible decline in crimes committed, but only the number of complaints received by the Disque-Denúncia hotline.

The next stage of the project will map the same types of complaint in the remaining three Olympic areas: Maracan?, Barra da Tijuca and Copacabana. The researchers’ goal will be to provide input to government policy-making for the 2016 Games. At the federal level, responsibility for security at the games lies with the Olympic public authority (Autoridade Pública Olímpica, APO), the Justice Ministry, through its special secretariat for security at major events (Secretaria Extraordinária de Seguran?a para Grandes Eventos, SESGE) and the Defence Ministry, through its special advisory bureau for major events (Assessoria Especial de Grandes Eventos).

 Studies like this one form part of the digital ecosystem of sports and mega-events, an environment that favours the emergence of the start-ups generally catapulted by the Olympic Games. History has shown that Barcelona, Sidney, London and other Olympic cities were successful in fostering the development of software designed for the games, which today is exported to other countries, including Brazil. Start-ups for sports represent a market with turnover of approximately US$1 billion worldwide and in Brazil their development is coordinated by the informatics policy secretariat (Secretária de Política de Informática, SEPIN) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Disque-Denúncia, which manages the data base, is a Rio de Janeiro crime watch organisation that works with local authorities to prevent and solve crimes.