Security Alarm in Lisbon: Mayor Moedas is Waiting for the Promised Police

The news of stabbings, armed fights and daylight robberies that have been happening one after another on the streets of the capital in recent days is troubling us all. Although Lisbon still feels like a safe city in general, it is hard not to notice that the atmosphere on the street has changed a little. As a matter of fact, Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas has now directly raised his concern on this issue to the level of "alarm".

Moedas, who could not get any concrete results from his meetings with the national police organization (PSP) management, went on stage at the PSD Summer University event and discussed the situation in a very clear language.

"I have no quarrel with the government, I want the promised 200 police officers"

Moedas, who never mince words even though his own party is in power, stated that he is not looking for a power struggle with the ministries or the government, and that his only concern is peace on the streets of the city. As you may remember, a police reinforcement of 200 people was promised to the capital three months ago. However, statements from the PSP wing indicate that this support does not seem possible in the short term.

Moedas explained with the following striking figures that the issue is not limited to just 200 police officers, but that the real deficit in the field is much larger:

While the population of Lisbon has increased by 100 thousand since 2010, the number of police officers working in the city has decreased by 2,000. In other words, even if the 200 civil servants mentioned on paper arrive today, the system is actually operating with a deficit of 2,000 people.

"They Criticized Me When I Opened This Issue in 2022"

Reminding that he received serious reactions when he first brought up the security issue two years ago, Moedas said that "talking about the security issue" was almost a taboo at that time. He emphasized that in those days, there were people who saw him as using the rhetoric of the far right, but at the point reached today, the situation has now turned into a concrete problem that everyone accepts.

Referring to the events that took place in broad daylight in the city center, Moedas pointed out that something was blocked in the system:

If a woman is shot in the heart of the city and the attacker can walk freely outside,

If a man whose watch has been stolen tries to seek his rights and achieve justice on his own,

If fake drug dealers who harass people at every corner in the most touristic squares such as Baixa and Chiado are caught and immediately released, a serious revision of the laws and practices is needed here.

"If there is no order, the most vulnerable cannot leave the house"

The sentence that received the most applause in Moedas' speech and summarized the reality on the field was this: "Where there is no law, the strongest ones blow their horns. Where there is no order, the most vulnerable people cannot go out on the streets out of fear."

Like everyone living in the city, steps that prioritize the safety of the streets and the peace of the tradesmen and the neighborhood need to be taken without delay. Let's see how the government and the police wing will respond to this clear call of the municipality in the coming days.

Source: LUSA / Natasha Donn (Portugal Resident)

Photo: Miguel A. Lopes / Lusa