The Judicial Police (JP) records an average of about 3,000 sexual crimes a year and about 500 new victims of this type of crime every quarter, the JP’s deputy national director said on Thursday.
“We have quarterly contacts – we carry out this control every quarter – about 500 new victims. [de crimes sexuais] every quarter. Every year we deal with approximately 3,000 new cases of sexual crimes,” said Carlos Fariña during a seminar on violence organized by the Faro Chamber.
Violence in a sexual context is an issue that has “greatly concerned” the SP and led to the creation of the police Sex Crimes Observatory in 2022, the person in charge recalled.
“We tried to understand this reality a little better. Separate crimes “face-to-face” and “online”, separate crimes against children from crimes against adults. We tried to study and track new manifestations, trends or signs in neglected areas such as [crimes] associated with religion, sports and gyms,” he explained.
Carlos Fariña stressed the importance of reporting sex crimes to police, admitting he was surprised when “some people say they don’t know who to report when they encounter” these types of situations.
“In June 2024, we all, as citizens, young or less young, have simple ways of doing things: we have police stations, posts, people, patrols. From time to time we sharpen and strengthen this idea, which we do not do. We don’t know who to turn to, sometimes we even think that using social networks is enough. But the use of social networks may not reach the system, the problem of signaling and early warning continues to be an issue of particular importance,” he said. highlighted.
On the other hand, the Deputy National Director of the SP also warned that urban violence has a “strong and alarming increase” in Portugal, attributing this increase to the youth of the participants and the futility of the motives.
“Urban violence is the preserve of big cities or big cities, […] and when it involves the use of weapons, it has an effective and alarming increase in Portugal for two main reasons,” said Carlos Fariña.
The person in charge clarified that the first reason is related to “a decrease in the age level of those involved,” given that “more and more young people are dealing with the problem of urban violence,” he noted.
Secondly, he added, “there are more and more people with more useless causes for urban violence,” for example, if someone shares a song on WhatsApp that “only” belongs to that person, it could “lead to a reckoning that “The move could provoke a reckoning among other groups.”
These situations become even worse when they are aggravated by the use of firearms, confirmed Carlos Fariña, praising the work the PSP is doing regarding gun control.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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