The mayor of Lisbon said this Wednesday that the interior minister “agrees” with her diagnosis of the need to strengthen policing, and added that they would work on a joint security plan.
Carlos Moedas (PSD) spoke to reporters after a meeting with Interior Minister Margarida Blasco, where he said he drew the government official’s attention to what was necessary in terms of the city’s security.
“The minister has assured me that we will work together on the city’s security plan, with the minister, with the government, and also with the local authorities, because we know whether we are talking about community policing or community policing. police visibility,” he said.
The mayor said he reminded Margarida Blasco that this is a “difficult time because there is less security in the city” and that more policing is needed.
As he had already requested from the previous government, Carlos Moedas recalled that the city needs 200 more municipal police officers, and that only 25 of them took office a few days ago.
“It is important to know that without municipal police, without increasing the number of municipal police, we will not be able to do our job,” said Carlos Moedas, mindful of the need to have more public security police (PSP) on the streets.
The President also said that he presented specific cases to the Minister, such as the recent insecurity due to robberies on Avenida da Liberdade, and recalled that he put forward the idea of creating a police station in Praça da Alegria for the municipal police and the PSP.
“If there is no visibility, then people feel that they are not accompanied,” he said, adding that he also proposed the idea of night watches to the minister.
Regarding the Homeland Security Annual Report (RASI) data released this Wednesday that shows the threat posed by political extremism is worsening, the mayor said the data should be taken “with calm.”
“Lisbon continues to be one of the safest cities in the world. And it is important to remember that we are a safe city. But you need to work on security every day. This is visibility, this is the presence of the police. , all this is very important,” he said.
“Right now, obviously, I’m concerned about extremism,” whether it’s on the right or the left, “because extremism is always bad,” the mayor added, stressing that “polarization on both sides is very serious for society.”
“It’s because I see this polarization every day in the city that I know we have to do something, and we have to do it now,” he stressed.