RIO DE JANEIRO — If battling pickpockets were an Olympic sport at the current Summer Games, the Brazilian authorities might qualify for a medal.
In the face of soaring street crime, the state government has deployed a security force of 85,000 in Rio de Janeiro, among them 23,000 soldiers who stand sentinel at busy intersections or cruise the streets in military jeeps, their weapons aimed menacingly at the sidewalk.
In one of the more intriguing displays, a Brazilian naval ship has been patrolling along the city’s famed Ipanema Beach.
Still, the overwhelming show of force has not exactly vanquished crime.