Lisbon will have 242 CCTV cameras by 2025

By 2025, Lisbon will install 242 CCTV cameras across the city and municipal investment will amount to “more than 5.3 million euros”, the chamber said on Tuesday, noting that there are currently 33, to be added by 97 at the beginning of 2024.

In response to questions from the Lusa agency, the Lisbon Chamber, chaired by Carlos Moedas (PSD), stated that “the municipality gives a positive assessment to the existing video security system, as a tool with preventive capabilities that allows rapid diagnosis and remote monitoring, complementary to the services provided by the physical presence of the authorities.” .

In response to the question of how many situations have been resolved by reviewing images captured by existing CCTV cameras in the city – 26 in Bairro Alto since 2014 and seven in the Miraduro de Santa Catarina area since 2022, the chamber issued this request for information the Public Security Police (PSP), which is the authority responsible for operating the system.

However, the municipality of Lisbon said that the CCTV system “represents another contribution to strengthening the security of people and property and helps law enforcement agencies fulfill their role of protecting and enforcing the law, primarily supporting prevention, but also rapid response in the event of a violation of the law.” crime event.”

According to the municipality, the 33 CCTV cameras currently installed in the center of Lisbon “will be added to a further 97 (by public tender) that will begin to be installed early next year”: 30 in Cais do Sodre, 17 in the area of ​​restaurateurs, 20 in Ribeira das Naus and 30 in Campo das Cebolas.

This information has already been made public following a closed meeting of the Municipal Security Council on October 17 to analyze the situation in the city and the strategic cooperation between the municipal police and the PSP, in which the mayor of Lisbon defended the increase in the number of agents and the implementation of video surveillance.

“Security is fundamental to Lisbon and we will do everything to maintain and strengthen it,” Social Democrat Carlos Moedas said in a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

The chamber informed Lusa that “in 2024, tenders will also be announced for the installation of a further 112 CCTV cameras in 11 other areas of the city”: Praça do Comércio, Cais das Colunas, Praça D. Pedro IV, Praça da Figueira, Rua Augusta, Rua- do Ouro, Rua da Prata, Rua do Comércio, Rua dos Fanqueiros, Santa Apolonia – Rua Caminos de Ferro and Santa Apolonia – Avenida Infante D. Enrique.

“In total they will be installed until the end of the mandate [em 2025] plus 209 cameras, a total of 242 CCTV cameras throughout the city,” the municipality indicated.

In March 2021, the Ministry of the Interior authorized the installation of 216 CCTV cameras in Lisbon, but of these only seven have been installed so far.

Last Tuesday at the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, during the debate on the state of the city, PS MP Carla Madeira criticized the delay in installing CCTV cameras and said that “a city with a future and with a future must be a safe, peaceful city where citizens have a quality of life”, recalling the death of a young man who was hit with a bottle in the early hours of October 14th.

“Now, after the death of the young man, a competition will be launched to install 97 cameras out of the 209 missing,” accused the president of the Misericordia parish council, which covers Cais do Sodré and Bairro Alto, Carla Madeira.

Stating that “it is not the fault of the PS,” the socialist also said that “there is no desire on the part of this leader to mitigate the harmful effects of living in this amusement park that Lisbon has become,” with excessive noise, disrespect and excess. alcohol at night, which “makes life hell for Lisbon residents.”