COPACABANA NIGHT SPOT RAIDED BY POLICE

LOCAL NIGHT SPOTS RAIDED BY POLICE

11/25/2011

Copacabana, Brazil

Police raid local night spots in Copacabana, including The Balcony and Dolce Vida, looking for drugs and underage females. Seven females were detained; two were found to be carrying the drug known as Cinderella, a knock out drug, used to incapacitate victims to be robbed.

The police surrounded the establishments, and forced the patrons to show identification, and the female's purses were searched. 


Not only are the adult entertainment spots dwindling in Copa, but apparently the few remaining locations are becoming havens for criminals.

When will the powers that be, allow a world class entertainment center to be constructed in Copacabana? Since the closing of Club HELP, two years ago, there does not exist in Zona Sul, including Ipanema and Copacabana one adult orientated establishment, in size or capacity, worthy of the world attention that Club HELP had enjoyed.

The question that begs for an answer is this is Copacabana a world class tourist destination or not. The official response has been lame and lacking in vision and purpose. They promised to build a museum of light and sound on the spot where Club HELP used to exist. Hardly the response that anyone understands or accepts, as the answer to the glaring problem, that there is nothing to do in Copacabana after dark.

If I were a tourist, that traveled eight thousand miles to visit Copacabana, and when I get there all that I can find for entertainment is an undersized restaurant, masquerading as a nightclub, I would demand a refund.

In the real world, the opportunity to reestablish Copacabana as a world class destination is undeniable, and as simple to do as ABC. Copacabana needs to build a world class disco, in size, entertainment and capacity for everyone to enjoy. Build it and they will come.  

Rio Favelas Rocinha and Vidigal Occupied

Rio Favelas Rocinha and Vidigal Occupied Without Shots Fired: Daily

November 13, 2011 | Filed underDaily Update | Posted by Ben Tavener

By Ben Tavener, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This morning, Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela, and Vidigal, became the most recent communities to be pacified by Brazil’s military and police forces – without shots fired. The operation included BOPE, the Marines and other special armed forces and police squadrons using armored vehicles and helicopters - as a precursor to the installation of Rio’s nineteenth UPP (Police Pacification Unit).

Brazilian military vehicles joined the operation in Rocinha and Vidigal, image recreation.

Around 7AM, the Chief of the Military Police, Colonel Alberto Pinheiro Neto made the official announcement of the occupation. Local media reports he said the situation was under control in Rocinha, and that there were no incidents or shots fired.

Operation Choque de Paz (“Shock of Peace”) got underway at around 2:30AM this morning as police installed roadblocks, and is being labeled “historic” by Brazilian media and “even bigger” than that in Complexo do Alemão a year ago.

According to the Secretary of Security of Rio, about 3,000 men of military police, civil and federal, and military Marine Corps participated in the operation, which was backed by four helicopters.

The commander of Special Operations Battalion (BOPE), Lieutenant Colonel Wilma Alonso Rene Goncalves, said nobody was arrested during the operation. He said police BOPE are in various parts of the community, making inroads in the woods, looking for dealers in drugs and arms and ammunition.

“We had to act fast [in Alemão]. We didn’t have as much time to prepare then as we have now. We are ready for this fight,” said operation commander Yerson de Oliveira Neto.

Rocinha residents said the atmosphere was one of “total apprehension”, with people leaving work, stockpiling supplies and heading home as zero hour approached.

Rocinha, perched above wealthy neighborhoods in Rio’s Zona Sul (South Zone), has been considered crucial to the city’s drug trade, and the alleged kingpin of the R$2 million per week enterprise was arrested just days ago.

Read more (in Portuguese).

* The Rio Times Daily Update is a new feature we are offering to help keep you up-to-date with major news as it happens.

  shareshare

Significant Fall in Violent Crime in Rio State

November 8, 2011 | Filed underPolitics | Posted by Ben Tavener

By Ben Tavener, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Levels of violent crime reported in Rio de Janeiro state have fallen significantly in three target areas, according to figures for the first seven months of 2011 released by the state’s Instituto de Segurança Pública, the ISP (Institute of Public Security). The statistics show that cases of lethal violence, encompassing any crime which led to or was followed by a death, were down by 13.2 percent: 3,559 incidents registered in 2010 dropped to 3,088 for the same period this year.

José Mariano Beltrame, Rio's State Security Secretary, says the results are proof the state’s security policy is on track and working, photo by Roosewelt Pinheiro/Wikimedia Creative Commons License.

This includes “death in confrontation with police,” a figure the state has been keen to improve on, which fell some 27.4 percent in the first half of the year.

Vehicle theft down was by 15.3 percent – from 12,522 in 2010 to 10,605 this year – the state’s best result since 2000 – and a reduction of 14.3 percent was seen in street robberies (including mobile phone theft), decreasing from 47,337 (2010) to 40,556 for the same period this year.

This means targets set for crime reduction in the state this year have already been met. It was also reported that arrests were up 19.6 percent.

These three main figures are seen as important as they are used together to define targets for the police, and lead to awards for divisions that reduce crime the most.

Rio State Security Secretary José Mariano Beltrame seized on the results as proof the state’s security policy is on track and working, saying: “Now it’s time to invest in further police training.”

The drop in violent crime is being attributed to the success of Rio’s UPP (Police Pacification Units) program, and fewer fatal armed encounters with police: “One of the important components that has been involved with this decline was the drastic reduction in deaths during confrontations with police. With the decrease in fighting, because of the UPPs, this rate is also falling,” said ISP chief Colonel Augusto Souza Paulo Teixeira.

ISP chief Colonel Augusto Souza Paulo Teixeira, photo by Instituto de Segurança Pública.

The colonel also pointed out that Rio was now bucking the trend of one of Brazil’s vehicle theft hotspots and is approaching the national average, adding that for insurers the news could mean a “reduction in prices.”

But although the drop is undoubtedly encouraging, the statistics are still high when comparing internationally.

For example, the results include a ten percent drop in homicides, now representing 2,587 cases in the seven months reported in 2011.  To compare, New York State (slightly bigger population than Rio state) saw 337 homicides in the period between January-June 2011, and Greater London (about half the population of Rio state) witnessed 131 in the twelve months to September.

As for Rio, resident Santiago Oliveira says he thinks the security situation is getting better. “In my 23 years here I’ve never been mugged or robbed, but you knew it was happening to others and the situation was bad up to a couple of years ago. Now the city feels safer.”

Security in Rio has been under heightened intense scrutiny since November 2010 when Rio came under city-wide attacks. Police and politicians in Rio are all too aware that the city has to be seen as safe enough to welcome the increasing number of visitors to the city, particularly with the 2014 World Cup  and the 2016 Olympics approaching.

  shareshare

Accused Rocinha Drug Lord Arrested

Accused Rocinha Drug Lord Arrested: Daily

November 10, 2011 | Filed underDaily Update | Posted by Sarah de Sainte Croix

By Sarah de Sainte Croix, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Accused chief drug lord of Rocinha, Antônio Bonfim Lopes, known as Nem, was arrested by Federal Police at around midnight last night in Lagoa, in front of the Piraquê Club. One military police officer called the arrest of one of Rio’s most wanted criminals a “victory”.

Accused Rocinha drug lord, Nem, arrested, image recreation.

The fugitive was found in the trunk of a car as he reportedly attempted to escape from Rocinha ahead of its anticipated pacification.

It was reported in local media that he was assisted by two other men – a lawyer and an employee from the consulate of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who initially tried to use his diplomatic immunity to prevent police officers from opening the trunk and making the discovery.

The lawyer reportedly offered police officers R$1 million to let the group walk free. However, all three men were arrested. According to Federal Police, Nem will be transferred Bangu prison later on today.

Rocinha is considered the largest favela in Brazil, and located between the wealthy Zona Sul (South Zone) neighborhoods of São Conrado, Gávea, andLeblon.

Home to at least 70-100,000 people (the exact population is unknown, due to the difficulty of conducting a census), Rocinha is considered crucial to the drug trade in Rio.

Read more in Portuguese.

* The Rio Times Daily Update is a new feature we are offering to help keep you up-to-date with major news as it happens.

  shareshare