Officials are warning travelers about an elevated risk of petty theft during the 2016 Olympic Games. Visitors who openly display wallets, smartphones or jewelry face the greatest danger, particularly when they travel beyond officially designated Olympic and tourist-friendly zones. Security experts note that high visibility of valuables makes tourists easy targets for pickpockets and opportunistic thieves.
“A total of 85,000 security personnel will be deployed in Olympic venues and tourist areas — double the number mobilized during the London 2012 Olympics, and more than during the 2014 Brazil World Cup. IHS assesses that this saturation of security force deployment will be effective in containing crime, unrest and vandalism during the Olympics, as was the case during the World Cup,” said Carlos Caicedo, senior principal analyst, IHS Country Risk.
Travelers should exercise particular caution in downtown Rio, around metro stations, in major hotel districts and along beach promenades, where thefts are most likely to occur. Despite concerns about theft, the overall risk of homicide for visitors remains low; most violent incidents tend to affect local residents and occur in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods that tourists rarely visit.
The reported total cost of the Rio Olympic Games is approximately $4.1 billion, with about 70 percent of funding coming from private sources. The federal government has allocated $850 million to pay public servants and police officers who had not received wages since May, a measure intended to prevent a police strike during the Games and ensure security staffing is maintained.