Porto Mayor calls for “more and better responses”
The mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, warns that there are “objective reasons” to talk about an increase in insecurity in the city. It is “no longer just a matter of perception”.
“We are objectively concerned about security in the city. It’s not just a perception of insecurity. There are objective reasons to say that there is an increase in insecurity in the city,” he told a meeting of the municipal security council yesterday.
Moreira justified the increase in insecurity with data from the 2023 Annual Internal Security Report. “In Porto, compared to 2022, general crime increased by 8.4% and violent crime increased by 4.4%,” he said, noting that many complaints these days are not reported.
Speaking to journalists, the mayor said that although the feeling of insecurity corresponds to an increase in crime, “it shouldn’t lead to panic”: it should prompt reflection on ‘more and better responses in the area of safety and security’.
Among various topics discussed at the municipal security council – as well as with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Margarida Blasco – were the reinforcement of the city’s Municipal Police and PSP, ‘bonus policing’ and night watchmen.
There are currently 189 officers in Porto Municipal Police; 100 more are needed. Rui Moreira told the minister that he has been asked to make “the promised contingent available as soon as possible”.
On this subject, the second in command of Porto PSP Metropolitan Command, Maria dos Anjos Pereira, assured that of 50 officers who will be reinforcing the PSP from next week, 17 will be made available to the municipal police force. As for the number of PSP officers, Rui Moreira emphasised that there is currently a lack of human and technical resources “to cover needs”.
In his opinion, one of the problems exacerbating the lack of police officers is the location of the training school in Torres Novas. According to Moreira, there should be a training centre in the north.
The mayor also discussed the need to reverse a decision made by previous Minister of Internal Affairs, José Luís Carneiro. “We don’t accept that it’s not possible to have bonus policing in Movida (where several nightclubs are concentrated) when there is bonus policing in other public spaces,” he said, stressing this is an issue that he won’t “let drop”.
“The (new) minister didn’t know about this and was told it was one of the really urgent issues,” he told the meeting, suggesting the previous minister’s decision (snubbing a request made by businesses in the area and the local authority) “was a matter of stubbornness”.
Along with paid policing, the reinstatement of night watchmen is another topic on the table, with the mayor proposing that powers in this area should be passed to the local authorities, “so that they can guarantee payment and the role won’t be dependent on civic-minded residents”.
Source material: LUSA
