The Algarve Report 26 June 2024 by Mike Evans
A very good day to you all and welcome to this report if you are joining us for the first time. I have recently been away on holiday to Canada and one piece of news was that Canada’s 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive ever recorded. By September 5, more than 6,132 fires had torched a staggering 16.5 million hectares of land. To put that in perspective, that’s an area larger than Greece. As we get into the fire season here in Portugal we should be aware that this is a universal problem and there is a huge amount of co-operation between the countries to combat these fires but it needs everyone’s help to be sure of combating these events.
With the weather getting hotter and wind increasing in the Algarve we must all be on our guard and report any signs of smoke or flames at the earliest opportunity rather than waiting for someone else to do it. So far this year the Algarve has been pretty quiet regarding fires but the season has only just begun so please be aware. One new initiative has been happening in Portimao with The program “School and Risks… Prepare to Protect!” Throughout the 2023/2024 academic year, it carried out several awareness-raising actions in public and private schools, in the municipality of Portimão, reaching 13 thousand students and 600 teaching and non-teaching staff.
The activity implemented by the Municipal Civil Protection Service (SMPC) of Portimão in 2014, in the current academic year organised 229 awareness-raising actions.
These actions were adapted to each level of education, covering aspects such as the use of the number 112, calling for help, dangerous materials, natural and technological risks in the region, basic life support, railway risks and defence of the forest against fires. A great initiative that we at Safe Communities wholeheartedly support.
Now for a look at what other stories have been happening across the region.
Judicial Police records an average of 3000 new sexual crimes per year
The Judiciary Police (PJ) records an average of around 3,000 sexual crimes per year and around 500 new victims of this type of crime every quarter, according to the deputy national director of the PJ.
“We are having quarterly contact – we carry out this control every quarter – with around 500 new victims of sexual crimes every quarter. We are having annual contact with around 3000 sexual crime situations per year”, declared Carlos Farinha, during a seminar on violence promoted by the Chamber of Faro.
Violence in a sexual context is an issue that “has greatly concerned” the PJ and which led to the creation, in 2022, of a Sexual Crime Observatory within the police force. To better understand this reality, a “separation was made between face-to-face and online crimes and between crimes against children and crimes against adults”. The PJ also sought to “study and monitor new manifestations, trends or signs in unaccounted areas, such as [crimes] associated with religion, sport and gyms”, he explained. Carlos Farinha reinforced the importance of reporting sexual crimes to police entities, highlighting that often using social media “may not be enough to reach the system”. According to him, the problem of signalling and early signalling continues to be a problem of particular importance.
The deputy national director of the PJ also warned that urban violence has had “an effective and worrying growth” in Portugal, associating this increase with the youth of those involved and the futility of motivations, specifying as the main reason “there are more and more young people involved in the issue of urban violence”.
Furthermore, he added, “there are more and more people with more futile reasons for urban violence”, situations that “escalate even further when they are fueled by the use of firearms”.
GNR arrest 6 and seize thousands of drug packets
The National Republican Guard (GNR) seized more than 33 thousand doses of drugs and detained six people during an operation to combat drug trafficking that took place on Monday in Loulé, Tavira and Faro.
The operation culminated in an investigation initiated a year ago by the Criminal Investigation Center (NIC) of Loulé of the GNR, motivated by the “feeling of insecurity in the community of Tôr”, in the municipality of Loulé, specified the Territorial Command of Faro of the GNR in a statement.
According to the same security force, the investigation “allowed the establishment of a network of trafficking, distribution and sale of narcotic products” that allegedly carried out criminal activity in the Algarve region. In total, six people were arrested, five men and one woman, aged between 39 and 58, and 32,492 doses of hashish, 593 of cocaine and 11 of marijuana were seized.
“The operation consisted of a fixed device that guaranteed the monitoring of the suspects, with the approaches and arrests carried out in various locations in the municipalities of Loulé, Faro and Tavira”, stated the Guard.
The GNR also seized two firearms, two compressed air weapons, a crossbow, eight vehicles, various communications equipment, counterfeit notes and more than seven thousand euros in cash.
The six detainees will be presented to the Court of Faro to be heard in the first judicial interrogation.
The operation involved a total of 54 soldiers from the criminal investigation, the intervention detachment, the Coastal and Borders Control Unit, and had the support of the Public Security Police (PSP).
10 detained in Drug Raid in Portimao and Lagoa
Dozens of PSP agents are, this Monday, June 24th, carrying out searches in Portimão and Lagoa as part of the fight against drug trafficking. 10 people have already been detained.
In total, around 20 searches have been carried out, both at home and outside the home.
These searches were the result of an investigation that had been ongoing for approximately a year, with the aim of combating drug trafficking in the region, particularly in the municipalities of Portimão, Lagoa, Silves and Lagos, explains the PSP.
So far, 10 people have been arrested and three have been charged with the crimes of drug trafficking, possession of a prohibited weapon and receipt.
The search actions led to the seizure of “significant quantities”, including cocaine and hashish, as well as thousands of euros in cash.
This action involved dozens of PSP elements, also counting on the operational support of the Republican National Guard (GNR).
Municipalities in the Algarve recognized for the “Quality of Senior Physical Activity Programs”
The municipalities of Alcoutim, Faro, Lagoa and Portimão received recognition for “Quality of Senior Physical Activity programs”, by the company Cidade Social , last month.
This recognition implies the preparation of an application, based on a regulation that determines the requirements and, to maintain recognition, the frequency of a training session and the establishment of an improvement plan. These programs constitute systematic approaches for municipalities in an age range of the population that is increasingly growing as a percentage of the entire Portuguese population.
“It is increasingly important for Portuguese Municipal Councils to create programs and activities for this segment of the population, in order to improve their quality of life”, reveals Pedro Mortágua Soares, CEO of Cidade Social – the entity that awarded the recognition and awards to Portuguese municipalities. This is just one of the specific recognitions given to local authorities in the Faro district, however, in November last year 11 of the 16 municipalities were recognized as “Sports Friendly Municipalities”: Alcoutim, Castro Marim, Vila Real de Santo António, Tavira, Faro, Loulé, Albufeira, Silves, Lagoa, Portimão and Lagos.
Some were visited by the program’s national coordinating entity, as happened in recent days. During these visits, analyses were carried out on some technical aspects, opportunities for improvement were identified and good practices implemented by these municipalities were shared.
Participation in the Município Amigo do Desporto program is dependent on compliance with a set of requirements in terms of the activity of municipal councils in the area of sport.
The Município Amigo do Desporto program is a training program, sharing of good practices, recognition and networking.
In the month of May, the councils of Portimão and Lagos were also visited, which are part of the Solidarity Local Authorities program, which works along the same lines as the Sports program, but within the scope of municipal Social Action.
In the case of the Portimão municipality, Cidade Social recognized two entities that work within the scope of social intervention for people with disabilities, APPDA – Algarve and Teia D’ Impulsos, recognizing the merit of their interventions in society and the impact they have had in the last years. Cidade Social, founded in 2014, is a company specialising in training and benchmarking in the areas of sport, culture and social action. It has three brands – “Município Amigo do Desporto”, “Autarquia Solidária” and “Sports Friendly Hotel”.
Until the next time Stay Safe.