Security scheme for World Cup already in place in Rio

Rio de Janeiro, May 24 (IANS) The integrated security scheme for the FIFA World Cup, which starts next month, is already in place in Rio, one of the 12 host cities of the competition.

According local news site G1 Friday, an Integrated Regional Command and Control Center (CICCR) was set up to gather representatives of the security forces, healthcare system, transportation companies and other organs which participate in the operational scheme for the World Cup, reports Xinhua.

All the actions of the public organs in the World Cup will be coordinated by the CICCR.

"CICCR centralised the demands for the World Cup. We will control all the events and incidents related to the tournament," said Federal Police Chief Anderson Bichara, who coordinates CICCR.

CICCR will operate on a partial capacity until early June, when it will start working in full capacity for the World Cup, which starts June 12 and ends July 13.

A similar command centre was operational during other two events Rio hosted last year, the Catholic Church's World Youth Day and the FIFA Confederations Cup.

According to Rio authorities, some 20,000 security agents will participate in the security of the World Cup. The security of the World Cup in Brazil is a joint effort of local and federal police, the highway police, the armed forces, and the national security force.