The “urgent request” was made to the Minister of Internal Administration, revealed Carlos Moedas (PSD) after an emergency meeting of the restricted Municipal Security Council, which was attended by the Lisbon PSP and the Municipal Police, convened by the mayor.

“I ask the Government for more visibility of the police in this city. I now offer the Government the ability to have mobile posts, that is, mobile police stations, in the city. People are not seeing the police on the street and I offer the Government the ability to do that,” he said.

He defended that these mobile stations should be in places where there is more tourism and more occurrences, namely in Cais do Sodré, Bairro Alto and Santos.

“We can even form a partnership between the municipal police and the PSP, but we need mobile posts in this city”, he added, providing “what is necessary”, for these police stations.

Complaints

The mayor said that this urgent meeting with the authorities follows complaints from people who work in restaurants, at night and in commerce, about the existence of cases of violence in these places, including another death, which occurred this weekend.

“We have a unique asset in this city and that is security. And we can't miss it. It is a safe city, but in recent times we have seen, at least in perception – the numbers may not yet indicate this –, an increase in violence. There may not have been an increase in crime in numbers, but the acts of violence that are being committed worry me a lot,” he stressed.

More police officers needed

Carlos Moedas also asked for an increase in police personnel, namely the Municipal Police, which has 450 personnel when it should have 600.

“My request as mayor is that these numbers increase. We have to give better conditions to the police forces, we have to pay the police forces better and we have to have more effective police forces. This is the basis of everything”, he said, noting that Lisbon is experiencing a large increase in tourism, but it is also necessary to “defend the people of Lisbon, who have to feel safe in the city”.