The Liberal Initiative (IL) will a draft resolution recommend to the government “to a reform of the security forces and services that improves the allocation of available resources, allows more patrols and proximity policing and ensures the future sustainability of the security forces, namely, reduce the number of police stations in a balanced and reasoned wayensuring necessary exceptions due to the high danger in certain areas, as well as assigning agents to security functions”.
This draft diploma will be defended in parliament next Thursday in the context of the debate proposed by Chega on the theme “Security forces and their careers, racism and persecution by political rulers in Portugal”.
The reorganization of PSP stations, mainly in Lisbon, has been on the agenda for several years (at least since 2012), but despite the closure of some facilities without visible results in increased availability of agents for patrolling the streets, nothing consistent was achieved. created.
In 2014, with António Costa Mayor of Lisbon (CML) and Pedro Passos Coelho as Prime Minister, there was an agreementapproved by all parties in the CML restructuring the PSP device in the capitalallowing nearly 300 additional police officers to patrol the streets. The plan was on paper.
More police and more bureaus than in the EU
Liberals remember that Portugal is one of the European Union (EU) countries with the highest percentage of personnel in its security forces and services per citizen, with about 432 employees per 100 thousand inhabitants, while the European average is 274.
They also point out that the national director of the PSP, Magina da Silva, emphasized that Portugal too “compared to its European counterparts high plow ratio per inhabitant and per territory”.
Despite these two indicators, IL points out, “there has been a recurring complaint about this part personnel are deployed inefficiently🇧🇷
On the one hand, because various GNR guards and PSP agents “execute”. accounting”on the other hand “because they see themselves obliged to remain within police stations and barrackspreventing them from developing their specialized work of policing and protecting the population on the ground”.
Therefore, in the opinion of the liberal bank, “a balanced reduction of the number of police stations, well justified at national leveland ensuring the necessary exceptions due to the high level of danger in certain areas would allow the availability of police contingents to conduct fieldwork and respond quickly to civilian needs”.
In this proposed resolution IL asks that the parties be provided with the “study” Magina da Silva claimed to have provided to the custodyin which it “recommends to the government a series of measures, including the reduction of the number of police stations, aimed at a better allocation of available resources, and in this way improving the delivery of vital services by the police forces”.
IL reveals that it has requested the Ministry of the Interior to make this document available. “The government, when administering criminal justice policy, should consider the advice of those who deal with and manage the police services on a day-to-day basis and draw the necessary conclusions regarding possible reforms to be implemented,” the government said. liberals.
Attacks against and by the police in RASI
In addition to this proposal, the IL-fraction, with the coordinator for Security, Patrícia Gilvazat the head, proposes another draft resolution to be recommended to the government for inclusion in the Annual Homeland Security Report (RASI) data related to aggression committed against police officers and those committed by police officers, “which is assumed to have been done disproportionate use of force”, as well as data on disciplinary proceedings “ongoing or completed, relating to practices of discrimination or incitement to hatred or violence within the security forces”.
However, according to IL, where the crime situation and the main threats to internal security are presented, the RASI “fails by not realizing” the aforementioned realities, which are directly related to the activity of the security forces, “which it believes” in high relevance🇧🇷
At the close of this edition, on the parliamentary page at debate proposed by André Ventura’s party, only proposals for a diploma from this party were available: the criminalization of “incitement to hatred against members of the criminal police and judicial authorities”, the increase to 450 euros “of the supplement for service and risk in the security forces in the GNR and PSP; the “application of summary proceedings to the trial of crimes of resistance and coercion against a civil servant”; one about using body cams🇧🇷 and another to allow the “right of party membership” of police officers, “who are not military or militarized agents”.
Source: DN
