10,000 new police should be patrolling the streets by 2023.
This was presented in parliament yesterday as the cherry-on-the-cake of the government’s security blueprint for the future.
But it was instantly ‘shot down’ by police syndicates which said the numbers were essentially all wrong.
Ten thousand new recruits may indeed be taken on, but almost 7,000 agents (spread across the GNR and PSP forces) are due to leave by 2023, so the “reinforcement will be a great deal less than what has been announced”, writes Correio da Manhã.
The changes – involving the use of civilians for bureaucratic duties, in order to free up as many as 1,500 agents for hands-on police work – have done nothing to dent the resolve of syndicates planning demos at national airports next week (click here).
Said Paulo Rodrigues of the ASPP (association of syndicates of police professionals), the government’s plans will not address (deep-seated) problems, though they will ‘rejuvenate’ the force in that the average age of agents should reduce from the current 46 years of age, to around 38-39.
César Nogueira, president of the GNR syndicate APG says his organisation wants to know how many of the 10,000 will actually be entering the GNR.
And more importantly perhaps, questions have been asked as to how many new agents will be recruited this year.
Says CM, “Eduardo Cabrita did not answer”.
