Six months ago, Pedro Calado, mayor of Funchal and former vice president of Miguel Albuquerque in the regional government, believed that “if the PSP does not have the resources and if the GNR does not have the powers, it is not [era] unreasonable to ask for the help of the military”.
Six months later, this week, the mayor no longer wants an “unarmed army”, but rather a “joint” police force of the PSP and the GNR.
And if at that time, in November 2022, he regretted that “the Portuguese state has not given the PSP the conditions to intensify street patrols”, he now says that “there is no need for more men, there is no need for more resources to come, more money Just use the resources Madeira has available today and put them to work together [GNR e PSP] without fear”.
What has changed? Does the PSP now have more resources and men? Does the GNR already have powers it didn’t have six months ago? The answer is simple: No. What was planned for the PSP is now being “executed”. And “nothing has changed” in the legislation governing the operation of the GNR.
Another doubt: what “urgency” has now arisen, if two months ago, in the last days of March, Pedro Calado was absent from Funchal during the visit of the Interior Minister, José Luís Carneiro, to the region [o ministro revelou a celebração prevista de um contrato local de segurança com a Câmara do Funchal que a autarquia agora contesta] and if on December 9, 2022 in Lisbon, he met with the Minister and with Isabel Oneto, Secretary of State for Internal Administration, contrary to what was “reported in some regional press”? – reference to a news report this week stating that the “gathering” requested by the mayor in August 2022 never took place.
The Ministry of the Interior (MAI), contacted by DN, guarantees that Isabel Oneto’s visit to Funchal this Friday is not the result of “pressure exerted by Pedro Calado” [frase referida nas notícias “regionais” em causa]but since it has not only already been announced “by the minister when he went to the region at the end of March, but also includes meetings with the regional government and with the municipalities of Funchal, Machico and Santa Cruz”, meetings that are part “of a series of works and meetings that the government has held with the region, both with the regional government and with various municipalities”.
And contrary to what Pedro Calado said when he asked the army in November for “deterrent vigilance” because of the lack of policing by the PSP and because of a crime that is “growing in scale”, the MAI emphasizes that “also the president of the regional government confirmed the government’s position [da República] by declaring Funchal to be a safe city at the end of 2022”, adding that “the PSP’s Madeira Regional Command today has the highest number of personnel since 2015, having been reinforced by 36 elements in 2022”.
“It is also important to understand that tackling problems does not stop with policing and security action. There are structured solutions that should also be sought in public health, social support, inclusion policies. We therefore advocate a multidisciplinary approach to mitigate and solve the problems. the problems,” emphasizes the MAI.
Sérgio Gonçalves, leader of the PS-Madeira and candidate for the presidency of the regional government in this year’s elections, believes that “it is time for the mayor of Funchal to assume his responsibilities once and for all, not in the last because, by his statements – “it is not necessary to bring more men, it is not necessary to bring more resources, more money” – admits that the government of the Republic provides the necessary resources to the region and the people of Madeira Mayor, it is clear that “who fails what is, again, the PSD and its board (…). It is believed that this problem is a reflection of the wrong governance of the PSD, of which Pedro Calado himself was a part, as vice president”.
Where’s the problem? “Pedro Calado has been president for more than a year and a half and insecurity, crime and drug use on public roads are increasing at an alarming rate,” says Sérgio Gonçalves.
Last November, Pedro Calado defended that the army would be called upon to patrol the streets of Funchal because crime related to the homeless population and the consumption of new psychoactive substances was already “relatively high” and because the PSP lacked had the conditions “to intensify street patrols against these situations”. And he even continued: “You just have to go through the streets of Funchal, at any time of the day or night, and I defy anyone, I often do this round myself, to find a police officer”.
At that time, MAI, contacted by DN, recalled that the PSP apparatus in Madeira – with 735 personnel – had just received 36 additional elements, with the recent recruitment of more than 900 new police officers leaving the course, in Torres Novas .
“At the end of 2023, 36 will arrive, but 52 will leave,” a source complained to the municipality. Hence the defense of an army presence in the streets. “What we are asking for is the support and presence of unarmed soldiers for deterrent surveillance in certain areas of Funchal,” Pedro Calado explained to DN.
Months earlier, the Secretary of State for the Interior, Isabel Oneto, had announced an investment of 12 million euros for the construction and rehabilitation of Ponta do Sol’s police stations. [processo já em andamento]Calheta (western zone), Santa Cruz, Machico (eastern zone) and Porto Santo.
And what did Miguel Albuquerque say on the subject? “We have never lived so safely and with so little violence as we do now.”
In summary, what for Pedro Calado was a problem that even needed an “army on the streets”, for Miguel Albuquerque the opposite was “evidence”, an “extrapolation of the facts” and a “media epiphenomenon”.
The facts beyond contradiction? Pedro Calado’s proposal ignored the “Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and the distinction it makes between National Defense and Internal Administration”.
In other words, that “the armed forces are not internal security forces. This would only be possible if there was martial law, which is not the case. The armed forces can participate in civil defense actions, but the police cannot.” clarified Jorge Bacelar Gouveia, professor and constitutionalist.
Source: DN
