Rio creates Integrated Center to combat cable theft and receiving stolen goods.

A permanent structure will bring together the City Hall, the State Government, and concessionaires to share intelligence, plan operations, and also monitor establishments that purchase stolen goods.

The Rio de Janeiro City Hall and the State Government announced, this Tuesday (09/01), the creation of the Integrated Center for Combating Cable Theft and Receiving of Stolen Cables, a permanent structure for joint action to address the problem that has already caused losses exceeding R$ 69 million in municipal public lighting and traffic signaling networks alone.

"When the Rio de Janeiro City Hall and the State Government work in partnership, we can face this type of problem, which is not simple, but is solvable. That's why today we published in the Official Gazette the creation of the Integrated Center for Combating Theft and Receiving of Stolen Cables. To combat this type of crime, we need intelligence, and this operational effort will yield results for the population," said Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere.

Established by a decree signed by Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, the Center will be coordinated by the Municipal Secretariat of Public Order (Seop) and will bring together information from security forces, municipal agencies, and concessionaires in a single environment. The structure will include representatives from the agencies that make up the Municipal Security System, Rioluz (Rio de Janeiro's lighting company), and CET-Rio (Rio de Janeiro's traffic engineering company).

"We are integrating all the databases to gather intelligence and attack what causes the most damage to operations within a city, which are the thefts of these structures. We are not only integrating the operation, but also the strategic data. Our main objectives are to prevent theft, identify criminals and, above all, combat the receiving of stolen goods," said the Secretary of Public Order, Marcus Belchior.

Representatives from the state secretariats of Public Security, Civil Police and Military Police, the State Institutional Security Office, public service concessionaires, energy and telecommunications companies, and other institutions related to addressing the problem may also participate in the meetings, activities and operations.

"We are experiencing a moment in Public Security that demonstrates a truth that has not always been very clear: a single institution cannot solve the problem of the city, the state, and the population as a whole. The integration of municipal and state agencies, speaking the same language and with the same purposes, generates positive results and increases the feeling of security. Public authorities need to help each other to reverse the situation we are experiencing. This union becomes imperative," concluded Roberto Leão, head of the Institutional Security Office of the State Government.

The new center will bring together information from security forces, municipal agencies, and utility companies in a single environment. The goal is to identify locations, times, and recurring patterns of thefts, map scrap yards and establishments suspected of receiving stolen goods, cross-reference information on incidents and stolen materials, and produce intelligence to guide inspections, investigations, and joint operations.

The strategy changes the approach to tackling the problem. In addition to targeting locations where thefts occur most frequently, the operations will focus on the entire criminal chain, encompassing theft, transportation, storage, receiving, and sale of the materials. The intention is to especially target establishments that buy, store, or sell cables and other components of irregular origin.

The work will not be limited to cables. The Nucleus's activities will also encompass traffic light and public lighting components, power and telecommunications network equipment, transportation, monitoring and security system structures, as well as covers, grates, railings and other metallic components of urban infrastructure.

Intelligence-led actions

CIVITAS Rio will be responsible for generating the intelligence data used in planning operations. The agency leads the Municipal Security and Intelligence System, a network created by the City Hall to organize municipal intelligence activities focused on public safety.

Recently, CIVITAS Rio also partnered with Light to integrate the utility company's operational data into the City Hall's intelligence environment, including incidents related to infrastructure, such as power outages and tunnel breaches.

CET-Rio sends monthly reports with records to the Civil and Military Police, information that will also contribute to the integrated work of the new Nucleus, which will gather and analyze data on thefts, damages, inspections, fines, seizures, closures, and licensing of establishments that work with scrap metal and metallic materials. Information from municipal video surveillance systems and data legally shared by public security agencies and other participants will also be used.

All processing and sharing of information must respect the rules for personal data protection, information security, confidentiality, and access control. The decree also allows for the signing of cooperation agreements, conventions, and other instruments necessary for the development of the actions.

The city government may evaluate the expropriation of properties.

In the case of irregular establishments, in addition to police and criminal measures, administrative actions may be taken, such as inspection of licenses and documents, verification of the origin of materials, seizure, closure, application of sanctions, and forwarding of information to the bodies responsible for investigating crimes.
Municipal authorities will monitor the situation at the inspected locations to prevent the continuation of illegal activities. Depending on the circumstances and provided that the requirements stipulated by law are met, the City Hall may also consider expropriating the property.

Loss figures

The scale of the problem can be seen in public lighting and traffic signaling systems. Between 2021 and 2026, 94.824 incidents related to the theft of public lighting cables were recorded, causing approximately R$ 42 million in losses. During that period, 1.816 kilometers of cables were stolen.
In the traffic light network managed by CET-Rio, the accumulated losses since 2021 amount to approximately R$ 27 million, considering maintenance and replacement of cables and controllers. During this period, 457 kilometers of cables were stolen, a distance similar to the road route between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in addition to 488 signal controllers. Added together, the losses in the public lighting and traffic light networks exceed R$ 69 million.

New measures to protect traffic lights.

As part of its strategy to combat theft, CET-Rio has begun replacing the copper cables in traffic lights with a new, non-commercial material. The new cabling is orange and marked "non-commercial," making it easier to identify and reducing the economic interest in the material. The replacement will be carried out gradually, according to technical needs, mainly after theft incidents and the installation of new traffic lights.

In total, nine intersections have already been replaced in the northern part of the city: Rua 24 de Maio with Rua São Paulo; Rua Fernando Esquerdo with Rua Conde de Azambuja; Avenida Marechal Rondon with Rua Henrique Dias, Rua Marechal Bittencourt and Rua Vitor Meireles; Rua São Francisco Xavier with Rua Radialista Waldir Amaral; Boulevard Vinte e Oito de Setembro with Rua Felipe Camarão; Rua Cirne Maia with Rua Getúlio and with the pedestrian crossing near Rua Tenente França.

Between January and July 2026, 455 traffic signals were affected by theft, equivalent to 14,6% of the city's traffic light system. During this period, 1.633 incidents were recorded, with losses exceeding R$ 3,2 million. The Greater Tijuca, Downtown, and Greater Méier areas concentrated the highest incidence in the first half of this year.

Other actions

In addition to using the new cabling, CET-Rio has been adopting different solutions to make access to equipment more difficult and reduce the recurrence of thefts. These measures include welding the boxes that house the cables, installing equipment at higher points, using anti-theft devices, and burying electrical cabling in locations considered critical.

In the public lighting network, RioLuz has been adopting measures such as replacing cabling with aluminum, concreting junction boxes, installing anti-theft boxes for projectors, using overhead cabling on Avenida Brasil, and implementing anti-theft cable trays in the Noel Rosa Tunnel.

Light has already suffered losses of R$10,4 million in 2026 due to theft.

Light is one of the utility companies with the highest losses due to cable theft. Between January and July 2026 alone, 780 cable theft incidents were recorded in Light's concession area. More than 78 kilometers of cable were stolen, with estimated losses of approximately R$ 10,4 million.

Between 2023 and 2025, the company identified 1.571 such incidents, resulting in the theft of approximately 435 kilometers of cables, estimated losses of R$ 45 million, and impacts on the energy supply for around 255 customers.

To combat these actions, Light maintains a partnership with the Crime Reporting Hotline and reinforces the importance of public collaboration. Information can be passed on anonymously by calling (21) 2253-1177 or 0300-253-1177.