In a statement, the municipality said that the draft regulation for the organisation and operation of the Faro Municipal Police Service had been unanimously approved at the town hall meeting held on 21 September.

According to the municipality, that police will carry out priority tasks in the areas of monitoring compliance with municipal regulations, in the areas of town planning, construction, protection of nature, cultural heritage and hunting resources.

The Faro Municipal Police will have territorial jurisdiction over the entire area of the municipality, in the four parishes of the municipality, and will also be responsible for applying the decisions of the municipal authorities, the note reads.

In addition, it will carry out tasks in the areas of surveillance of public spaces, namely areas surrounding schools, as well as surveillance in local urban transport, always in coordination with the security forces.

The administrative police will also be responsible for guarding municipal public buildings and facilities, or others temporarily under their responsibility, and for monitoring road and pedestrian traffic in the area of municipal jurisdiction.

Quoted in the communiqué, the mayor of Faro, Rogério Bacalhau, said that this was a "decisive step" towards fulfilling the municipality's commitment to the citizens of Faro to have such a police force.

For the mayor, with this new structure, it will be possible to "guarantee more effectiveness and efficiency in the supervision of the municipality and an extremely important support to the missions carried out by the police authorities", which represents "a substantial gain in the perception of security of the citizens".

The Faro municipal police will be led by a commander, assisted by a deputy, within the organic structure of the municipal services and depending directly on the mayor.

The proposed regulation now approved will then be subject to deliberation in Faro's municipal assembly.

The Lagoa Municipal Council, in the Faro district, also began, in September, the process to create a municipal police force, which it hopes to have completed in 2021.