Brazil’s community police program will deploy a new unit to the Rio de Janeiro shantytown closest to the city’s sports stadium, ahead of the upcoming World Cup and Olympics.
On November 3, some 403 agents will arrive in the favela, Governor Sergio Cabral announced Thursday.
The operation is part of Brazil’s community policing program, in which Pacifying Police Units (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora – UPP) are sent into troubled favelas. The program is meant to bring a permanent police presence to many Rio neighborhoods that previously lacked one.
The Manguiera favela sits on a hill adjacent to the Maracana sports stadium, and was one of the first shantytowns to receive a UPP in June 2009. In order to improve city security in time for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, Brazil authorities have prioritized securing areas like Manguiera which are closest to Rio’s sports facilities.
Manguiera is known to have sheltered one of Brazil’s most wanted drug traffickers.