Brazil apps track gunfire as Rio de Janeiro violence spikes

Record ID: 898066

  • Title: Brazil apps track gunfire as Rio de Janeiro violence spikes
  • Date: 4th July 2017
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF "CROSSFIRE" CONSULTANT, CECILIA OLIVEIRA, WORKING ON COMPUTER (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) "CROSSFIRE" CONSULTANT, CECILIA OLIVEIRA, SAYING: "People talk to us through social media and they supply this information. Sometimes they'll tell us: 'I walked through a shootout just now,' and sometimes they tell us: 'It's calmed down,' and we have that rapport from people. They are using the app and the number of users grows every day."
  • Embargoed: 18th July 2017 22:33
  • Keywords: Cross Fire app Where's the Shooting app OTT app Cecilia Oliveira
  • Location: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • City: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036OAYZ47
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT INCLUDES IMAGES SHOT IN CELL PHONE FORMAT
    Gun violence is on the rise in Rio de Janeiro, with the sound of firefights echoing daily across Brazil's seaside city as drug gangs battle each other and police officers patrolling slums.
    Now a pair of applications track in real-time how many gun battles there are and where they occur, based on eyewitnesses, media and police accounts.
    The "Fogo Cruzado," or Cross Fire, application created by Amnesty International and local researcher aims to let Rio's citizens know where gunfire is taking place, in the hopes of keeping them out of danger.
    A second application is called Onde Tem Tiroteio (OTT) - "Where's the shooting?" - With similar objectives.
    While Rio is long used to random gunfire in or close to its nearly 1,000 favelas, the city has been stunned by a rash of stray bullets hitting innocent bystanders.
    Murders jumped 11 percent to 2,329 in Rio de Janeiro state in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to the most recent data available from the state's security secretariat.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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