A special project is preparing staff who work in public services, particularly in transport, to be able to identify potentially suspicious behaviour during the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Comprising a lecture and a long-distance educational course, the project – which is being coordinated by Ministry of Justice's special secretariat of security for major events – has already trained about 500 people.

“In the current climate, we cannot conceive security intelligence without the involvement of the civil population,” said Romano Costa, the chief intelligence coordinator of the secretariat.

The project has also involved the creation of an app, together with Brazil's Federal Police, which allows supsicious situations to be immediately communicated. Meanwhile, a publicity campaign by the Rio state government and military police will increase awareness among the general population.

“The objective is to change people's behaviour,” said Daniel Puga, a first lieutenant in the military police.

An example of the raised awareness that the project hopes to achieve would be a person's reaction to finding an unattended rucksack on public transport. Brazil is not accustomed to dealing with a terrorist threat, so most people's instinct would be to take the rucksack to lost property, but the course aims to show people that such a package could be suspicious.

During the Rio 2016 Games, the city will also be protected by a Integrated Anti-Terrorism Centre (CIANT), coordianted by the federal police with the participation of security officials from various countries, such as the USA, Canada, Belgium, France, the UK, Argentina and Paraguay.