South Africa have put several safety measures in place in a bid to ensure that the 2010 World Cup passes by without incident.
South Africa leaving nothing to chance ahead of finals
South Africa have put several safety measures in place in a bid to ensure that the 2010 World Cup passes by without incident.
There are concerns that players, officials and fans could be in risk of suffering crime at next year's tournament.
South Africa has the second highest murder rate in the world after Colombia, and violent crime is commonplace.
In a bid to protect players, there have been suggestions from BaySecur, the security consultancy in charge of Germany 2006, that footballers should even wear bullet-proof vests outside the team hotel.
BaySecur said recently: "The possibility for the players of moving outside of the hotel boundaries should be kept to a minimum.
"Otherwise there must be a full escort; armed security guards and bullet-proof vests for the players."
Back in Durban in 2007, former Austrian goalkeeper Pieter Burgstaller was shot dead on a golf course before the preliminary draw.
Police
In response to such concerns, the South African government have announced a massive and unprecedented security plan for next summer.
The main thrust is that a dedicated force of 41,000 police officers will be deployed.
The other main points are:
:: South Africa will be working closely with international agencies to gather intelligence.
:: There will be a focus on border security at ports of entry, including South Africa's land, sea and air borders.
:: Route security, specifically those leading from airports into the cities, will be a priority.
:: Police are to divide the host cities into sections, with teams patrolling sections and focusing on Fifa headquarters, hotels, other accommodation establishments, the stadiums, fan parks, restaurants and tourist venues.
:: State-of-the-art information and communication military technology will be used as well as a fleet of nearly 40 helicopters.
Andre Pruis, deputy commissioner of the South African police, said a reaction force of 200 specially-trained officers will be on standby to deal with any terrorist threat, while 'intervention units' will be set up to deal with crowd trouble.
"This will be a snatch team to go in and take the trouble-makers out," said Pruis.
"We have also ordered 10 brand-new water cannons and we will put some dye in the water so that we can pick them up afterwards."
Expenditure
Millions of rand will also be spent on procuring special equipment, including the 10 water cannons, as well as up-to-date body armour and 300 mobile cameras.
There will be four mobile command centres, each with high-tech monitoring equipment, which will be able to receive live footage from the helicopters and other cameras.
Pruis added: "I think the first thing that one must take into account is that a major event is something a bit different from combating crime in general.
"You know a lot of the information; the airport, you know the routes, you know where the accommodation will be, you know where - to a large degree - people will go to restaurants, clubs, tourists attractions, and you know where the stadium is.
"To a large degree your security plan is really based on a lot of known information."
The South African Police Service has had a massive recruitment drive to increase the numbers of officers by 55,000 to over 190,000 by the end of 2009.
The number of police reservists will also more than double before the World Cup, to 100,000.
