Chamber expects to spend 27.4 million by 2027 to make Lisbon safer
The Lisbon City Council plans to spend 27.49 million euros by 2027 to have a safer and more resilient city, according to the Great Options of the 2023-2027 Plan of the municipality, which DN had access to. The previous document, which covered the period between 2022 and 2026, had a forecast of 37.8 million. This year alone, the estimate of expenses and investments in this sector is 15.1 million euros, below the 25 million estimated for 2022 by the executive led by Carlos Moedas. The municipality explains to DN that this difference in values has “to do with the funds that were spent in 2022 in the context of combating the covid-19 pandemic and that are not foreseen for the year 2023”.
There are 24 measures that the Lisbon City Council has included in pillar 6 of its Major Options of the 2023-2027 Plan, which is entitled A Resilient and Safe City. Among them are proposals such as “reinforcing video protection to increase the population’s feeling of security”, “reactivate and reopen police stations or strengthen proximity policing”, “improve night security in spaces most subject to crime through adequate lighting and maintenance of green spaces”, “intensify policing in nightlife areas”, “reinforce neighborhood and proximity patrolling”, “reinforce security in green spaces, namely the Parque Florestal de Monsanto”, “expand Community Policing of the Municipal Police to more neighborhoods in the city”, “reequip and modernize the Municipal Police” or “articulate with the Government the Plan for the Reorganization of the Operational Device of the PSP in Lisbon agreed between the Municipality of Lisbon and the MAI in 2014” .
With regard to civil protection, the municipality intends to “conclude the process of territorial reorganization of the Sapadores Firefighters Regiment (RSB)”, equipping it “with more human resources, equipment and vehicles”, “prepare the Municipal Strategic Plan of Action and Articulation of the Volunteer Fire Brigades of the Humanitarian Associations of the city”, design the “Integrated and Permanent Pre-Hospital Emergency Device, ensuring a quick response, with the Volunteer Fire Brigades”, “implement the ReSist Program, aimed at promoting resilience earthquake”, “reinforce Civil Protection volunteer work at parish level, ensuring the training indicated for the development of local projects” or “Civil Protection actions and risk prevention”.
The total allocation for the Municipal Police during 2023 is 2.2 million euros, while for the Municipal Civil Protection Service 2.4 million are foreseen and for the Firefighters Regiment 1.7 million. Last year, these figures were 693,043 for the Municipal Police, 818,325 for the Municipal Civil Protection Service and 2.8 million for the RSB.
With regard to the investments foreseen until 2027, the Lisbon Chamber intends to invest around 7 million euros in the re-equipment and modernization of the Civil Protection and Firefighters Regiment alone, with 2.2 million of this amount earmarked for equipment and uniforms and 4.2 million for vehicles and cargo.
Not yet with regard to firefighters, an investment of around 20 million euros in barracks is planned, with emphasis on the 16.9 million euros in the future Command and Training Headquarters of the RSB in Marvila, which should be completed by the end of next year. This new infrastructure will house the command of the RSB, a training school, a kennel and dog park, a multipurpose pavilion and the new headquarters of the 6th company. With regard to the Municipal Police, the multi-annual investment plan for 2023 and subsequent years includes an amount of 272,500 euros in equipment and uniforms.
People from Lisbon feel insecure
In the list of measures relating to accelerated security in the Great Options of the 2023-2027 Plan, the Lisbon Chamber defends that “Lisbon people and the people who visit us should not, under any circumstances, live with a feeling of insecurity”.
A study released by the municipality in September showed that only 40% of people who were victims of crimes in Lisbon (personal, vehicle or housing) made a report to the police. Of these victims, 40% reported having a feeling of insecurity on the street at night and 38% in the city in general. A universe of 70% noted that there was still a “lack of policing” in their area of residence.
During a presentation of this study, the commander of the Municipal Police, Superintendent Paulo Caldas, referred that, although this force has vehicles, good facilities and technology, “what conditions the work of the Municipal Police of Lisbon is the lack of personnel”, noting that “in 2018 there were 588 agents, the maximum number reached, while today, that number is 452”, a “very worrying” number. And he also called for the need for the staff to rise to 600.
At the same ceremony, Carlos Moedas participated in the appeal made by Paulo Caldas, recalling that “the perception of little policing on the streets” was the factor most indicated by the study’s respondents to justify their feeling of insecurity.