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City Hall carries out permanent actions to ensure a safer city
Published on 07/06/2024 - 08:42 | Updated
The BRT Seguro program has already carried out 3.400 arrests since it was implemented in 2021 - Rafael Catarcione/City of Rio The Rio City Hall has been taking steps to help improve public safety. The Safe BRT program alone has led to around 3.400 arrests for robbery, theft, vandalism, contempt and sexual harassment since it was implemented three years ago. The Public Order Department (SEOP) also conducts regular operations at scrapyards to seize copper from theft and robbery. Another measure that has brought a greater sense of security to Rio residents is the Luz Maravilha program, which plans to install around 540 new LED street lights in the city.
Junkyard
The Department of Public Order is responsible for inspecting scrapyards throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro. Since 2021, Seop has seized 116 tons of wires and copper and closed 119 establishments for operating illegally. In one of the recent operations, at the end of May, approximately one ton of copper was seized from scrapyards in the West Zone. During the inspection of an establishment in Bangu, approximately half a ton was seized. The material found had no proven origin, and the person responsible for the establishment was taken to the police station to provide clarification. In addition, agents seized 275 cell phones and telephone casings. The scrapyard was closed by the Seop team.
Cati
SEOP carries out daily actions to organize and welcome homeless people in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Since the actions began in July 2022, 5.962 knives and sharp objects, 41 replica firearms, 3.640 materials for drug use and 2.676 miscellaneous materials have been seized. The operations, which take place during the day and at night, aim to organize public roads and ensure the safety of the population, in areas with the presence of drug users, and with the support of agents from the Department of Social Welfare.
Acari
Since January 28, the Department of Public Order and the Municipal Guard have occupied the Calçadão de Acari every Sunday to prevent the fair from being set up there. The fair was prohibited by decree, based on the intelligence report produced by Seop, which proved several irregularities, such as the sale of material from cargo theft, contraband and without proven origin, in addition to the illegal occupation of public areas.
Uruguayan
In April of this year, SEOP and the Municipal Guard occupied Uruguaiana Street with the aim of organizing and ensuring the application of the rules established for street trading and the use of public areas. Over the course of two weeks, SEOP mapped the region and granted 75 new licenses to street vendors. They were settled in the stretch between Buenos Aires and Carioca streets and all received new, standardized equipment from the City of Rio. No street vendors will be allowed to remain in the vicinity of the Uruguaiana Camelódromo.
Ronda Maria da Penha
In its three years of operation (March 2021 to June 6, 2024), the Maria da Penha Patrol has already recorded 84 arrests, most of them for failure to comply with protective measures. During this period, more than 41 actions to support victims of various types of domestic violence have also been recorded, and 6.044 women have already been assisted by GM-Rio teams.
BRT Safe
Three years after its creation in June 2021, the Safe BRT program, coordinated by the Public Order Department, has already made around 3.400 arrests for robbery, theft, vandalism, contempt and sexual harassment. The patrolling and inspection actions, combined with improvements to the BRT system, resulted in a 90% reduction in Mobi-Rio's expenses with repairs caused by vandalism.
In addition to working to ensure passenger safety and combat damage to stations, the teams are also responsible for preventing fraud throughout the system. In these actions, 17.800 fines have already been issued for evasion. The 140 BRT stations and 12 terminals are monitored 24 hours a day by Mobi-Rio's 2.100 cameras. At any sign of suspicious or unusual activity, BRT Seguro agents are called to investigate the incident.
The agents also inspect vehicles that are traveling illegally in the BRT's exclusive lane. These operations have already resulted in more than 7.300 citations. In partnership with the Mobi-Rio Operational Control Center, the agents patrol vehicles, stations and on trains, and also carry out urban planning operations at stations and actions to prevent homeless people at terminals.
Wonderful Light Program
The Luz Maravilha Program, the result of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) signed by the City of Rio, installed 457 LED street lights in the city, as initially planned in the project developed with the concessionaire Smart Luz. However, another 80 new light points were identified and are now being modernized. As a result of this update, the contract was recently rebalanced and these excess points were included. The partnership foresees an investment of R$1,4 billion in modernizing the city's lighting.
RioLuz's replacement of old sodium vapor lamps with brighter and more efficient LED luminaires brings more safety to the streets and improves the quality of the urban environment, further highlighting the beauty of Rio. In addition, the change represented an estimated saving of R$100 million to the public coffers in 2022, since LEDs require much less energy to illuminate.
The first LED lamps were installed in locations that met criteria such as the Human Development Index (HDI), crime rates, blackout rates and regions with the greatest social vulnerability. For these reasons, Luz Maravilha was launched in the West Zone, in areas such as Muzema, Jardim Clarice, Camorim and Curicica.
The Alemão Complex, in the Leopoldina Zone, benefited from the modernization of 5.283 light points. In total, 15 communities were served in the region, which borders six other neighborhoods in the North Zone. The Penha Complex was the second 100% LED community, delivered in March 2022.
The contract with Smart Luz also provides for the replacement of steel poles with new fiberglass poles, which are more durable and resistant to electrical discharges. In total, there will be 18 fiberglass poles spread across squares, cycle paths and parks. The PPP will last 20 years and will support the maintenance and operation of all equipment.
So far, the Luz Maravilha Program has modernized 13 of the 19 planned tunnels: Martim de Sá Tunnel (Frei Caneca); Billy Blanco Tunnel; Major Vaz Tunnel; João Ricardo Tunnel; Rebouças Tunnel; Santa Bárbara Tunnel; Noel Rosa Tunnel; Alaor Prata Tunnel (old tunnel); Zuzu Angel Tunnel, Rafael Mascarenhas and Sá Freire Alvim Tunnel, São Conrado Tunnel and the Joá Tunnel are 100% LED. Noel Rosa, as a constant target for cable thefts, received a special lighting project with shielding of the network and the installation of projectors in the middle of the road to make it difficult for criminals to act.
Important roads in the city also have new lighting, such as Linha Vermelha, which also received an anti-theft project in the cable junction boxes and the replacement of 8 thousand meters of copper with aluminum, with lower commercial value, in an attempt to prevent theft.
Dom Hélder Câmara Avenue, which runs through more than ten neighborhoods in the North Zone, and the Lagoa-Barra Highway in São Conrado have also been completely modernized, as have Presidente Vargas Avenue in the city center; Ayrton Senna and das Américas Avenues in Barra da Tijuca; and Santa Cruz Avenue in Realengo. Pau Ferro Road in Jacarepaguá; Doutor Satamini and Hadock Lobo Streets in Greater Tijuca; and Cesário de Melo Avenue and Campinho Road in Campo Grande have also been reopened.
The Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, Praia Vermelha, Barra da Tijuca, Recreio and Pontal waterfronts are also 100% LED. New lighting was also inaugurated on the Barra da Tijuca pier and on Gigoia Island.
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