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Global Business: Booming private security in Rio

Booming Private Security in Rio

28/09/2019 GMT

Booming private security in Rio

BBC World Service - Global Business, Booming private security in Rio

With high crime levels and poor policing, private security companies are booming.

John Murphy sees how high crime has led to a boom in armoured cars, gun clubs and facial recognition technology in Rio.

Rio de Janeiro is best known to outsiders for its carnival, its beaches and its breath-taking scenery, but for many Brazilians the city has a reputation for crime and corruption. For the people of Rio that translates into outbursts of extreme violence, with shoot-outs in the city’s favelas, or slums, and robberies and car-jackings elsewhere. Many complain about a lack of public security with ineffective police forces and corrupt, inefficient government. All this, though, has meant good business opportunities for private security firms. More and more people are resorting to having their cars armour-plated and gun club membership has grown substantially.  
For Global Business, John Murphy examines the business of private security in Rio de Janeiro and asks if it can allay the fears of the residents.

Presenter/Producer: John Murphy
Translator/Fixer in Rio: Jessica Cruz

Picture: The municipal guard, an arm of the police, patrol in Rio de Janeiro
Credit: Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images

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