Job Discussion Forums

[bluegirl]

Could someone please shed some light on the crime issue in Sao Paulo. I am a tefl teacher and would like to go and work in Sao Paulo. Could you please tell me what the crime situation is like in that city and whether it is safe enough for a female to travel there on her own. Many thanks

[choi413]

haven't been there myself, but it is the biggest city and i know there is a lot of crime. but because there aren't so many tourists there compared to rio or salvador, i don't think there is as much tourist-targeted crime. you should be fine going yourself

[icehockey23]

IMHO much safer than what many foreigners are led to believe. Sao Paulo is a different universe from Rio or cities of the North East. Except for the traffic (at times equal to Bangkok) a lot of things (almost) work in S.P.
I am not female so take this into consideration - but imho the public transit is safe, the areas that a foreigner would want to live are safe (from violent crime). I lived for one month in S.P. in the center of the city (where no foreigner or most Brazilians would want to live because it has a large homeless population, a large amount of prostitution, street drug trade, and numerous other social ills equal to L.A. - if L.A. were the same size) and I had no problems. To be honest i felt much safer in S.P. than I would in most areas of L.A. - more cops on the street out of their cars in S.P. I travelled around the city only using public transportation at all hours and had no trouble. The parts of S.P. that you would likely be living and working in have numerous cops or private security on the streets, bars, restaurants are open very late, the majority of people will be just like you - trying to get on with and trying to enjoy their lives.
There are parts of S.P that are "dangerous" for most of us, but I wouldnt worry about it because most of us would never go there.
Use common sense. Make local friends. As a female, if by yourself -exercise extra caution.

[donpark]

Like any big city, you have to be cautious. Having said that, my experience of it wasn't so bad. I spent about six months living in Brazil over two periods. The first three month period, I traveled throughout southern Brazil. The second three month period was spent entirely in Sao Paulo. I witnessed two crimes. On the beach in Rio, my buddy's backpack (with his new digital camera) was stolen. It was pretty slick, right from under our noses practically. The second was in Sao Paulo, near the city center. I was walking along a main street when I saw a man walking towards me and something felt suspicious, my fight or flight instinct kicked in. When I got closer, I noticed he had a large gash over his eye, bleeding profusely. He asked (I think...my Portuguese isn't great) for directions to a hospital. From what I could gather he just got mugged. We were close to a police station (getting mugged mere blocks away from the cops!) so I escorted him there.
As chilling as that is, overall, I felt fairly safe in Sao Paulo. Granted, I'm a guy, I speak a little Portuguese, I never stumbled around drunk, and I try to dress down. Still, I've been to many parts of the city, at all hours, and I've noticed ordinary people, including single women, walking around at night, even along fairly dark streets. I never saw a burning bus, I never heard gunshots, never saw a riot. Most of the crime seemed to be petty theft. Keep an eye out for your purses and bags! Now, I wouldn't recommend foreign women walk down darkened streets, but I think it says something that many of the locals would dare it. Perhaps I didn't go to the really scary parts of town, I don't know.
Oh, one more story. This took place in the Liberdade neighborhood at about 10 at night. I was in a street cafe, having a beer, when I struck up a conversation with a group of local college students, two guys and a girl. The girl was complaining about something to her friends. One of the guys told me that she had to go to the bathroom, but didn't want to do it in the cafe because it was too dirty. She wanted the guys to escort her back to their apartment so she could do her business. The guys didn't want to because they were still drinking beers, and the girl couldn't go alone because she didn't feel safe, even though the apartment was close by. For about 15 minutes, it was: girl complaining, guys drinking and laughing at her situation. Ha...Brazilian men.