We've been a surprisingly efficient machine, and everyone has contributed in a unique way. 
We divided our analysis into six categories: environment, transportation, housing, social development, safety/security, & marketing. I was a part of the safety and security team, and we were so efficient I was able to go to the beach for part of Wednesday. There was this mini christ redeemer statue also, which I thought was a great photo opportunity. The restaurant behind had the best mango juice-totally fresh and blended right there.
Anyway, back to the paper and presentation. The view from the classroom was great (pic below), and they took the scaffolding off of the Cristo statue. The presentation went really well on Friday. Along with two professors from FGV, Ruy Cesar, the Special Secretary for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, was able to make it. It was difficult to find a unifying theme for every section, but we tried to tie things together with the idea of Rio as an Eco-city of the future. Whiel this is evident in the paper, my main focus did not have a whole lot to do with this because my group's focus was safety and security. So, similar to that section in the paper, I gave a talk about Community Oriented Policing (COP) Strategies and the possibilities of implementing a Compstat system similar to those in U.S. cities. Rio is not nearly as network capable as U.S. cities, so this provides a challenge to fully implementing any kind of public database for crime tracking, but this is something that could be very beneficial to Rio and help it grow into a "Eco-city of the future" as our paper attempts to posit. The COP strategies could also help relations between the police department and the majority of citizens. Organizations like the BOPE and others have a reputation for creating adversarial relationships between the police and communities. The most publicized effort in this area has been the creation of the UPPs (Unidades Pacificadoras de Polica), which attempt to partner with community leaders to help with their image as community civil servants rather than simply agents that react to and track crimes. This represents a shift in policing philosophy from one that is mostly reactive to a more, proactive, community oriented approach such as has occured in cities throughout the U.S. This has mostly happened in the favelas, however, and, after talking to some of our Brazilian student guides, they feel there is no reason this model could not be used in average middle class neighborhoods and throughout the rest of the city. This was something they felt passionate about, and is an aspect of crime prevention they hoped the politicians and bureaucrats would take note of. While there are several stats that show crime in Rio is not nearly what it was at one point, this is definitely something that I hope those planning the games will come up with a creative and effective solution to. The wide publication of the UPPs, as well as the scholarship incentives for law enforcement officials interested in improving their technical and communication skills seems to be a start in the right direction. However, as Leslie Kikoler said, "if it bleads it leads," which points to the time it takes to change public perception.
No comments:
Post a Comment