Rio increases police deployment for Olympics

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 2 (IANS) The government of Rio de Janeiro has announced it will add 3,503 police officers to its force of 10,414 for security of the Olympic Games, an increase of 33 percent.

The Militarised Police suspended all vacations and special leave and will deploy to patrol Rio's streets officers who normally would be assigned to desk jobs, police commander Col. Edison Duarte said at a press conference here on Monday, reports Efe.

Of the new officers, 634 will reinforce the police stations tasked with patrolling the shantytowns, or "favelas", that have been declared "pacified" after authorities expelled the bands of drug traffickers who previously dominated them.

With the new officers, the security forces to be deployed for the Games will number some 55,000 from assorted security forces, including 22,000 soldiers.

The city has been militarised in preparation for the Games, but last weekend there were a number of assaults on motorists in the Reboucas tunnel, one of the city's main transport routes.