Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 15^th January 2025

Good morning everyone. We start with the tragic wildfires in Los Angeles which have killed 25 people so far, burned more than 14,000 acres, destroyed at least 12,000 structures and forced the evacuation of more than 180,000 people.The worst fires the city has experienced. There are a number of factors that have facilitated the spread of the fires, such as the dry vegetation and the lack of rains, but in particular the winds with speeds up to 120 km/h.

Some may well ask what this has to do with Portugal. The fact is however, that Portugal has also been affected by wildfires with these factors, but nowhere to the same degree as in the Los Angeles fires. However what we see in the Los Angeles fires should be learning points for the future for many high risk fire countries, resulting from the effects of climate change and extreme weather conditions.

The fires in Los Angeles are burning with great intensity and as such they are very difficult to suppress by conventional firefighting means including the use of large tanker aircraft dropping many thousands of litres of fire retardant. In the end however, as we have seen in Portugal such as in the fires in October 2017, it will take a change of weather (namely a decrease in wind speed) that will allow firefighters to extinguish the fires.

Canada and Mexico have helped by sending firefighters to Los Angeles to assist and Portugal has, according to the Prime Minister, offered similar assistance, although there is no news of any response to this.

However, what is not helpful in times of crisis is the criticism by the President elect of California’s handling of the wildfires roaring around Los Angeles, as the state’s governor urged him to come to witness the damage in person. “The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he wrote. The answer, however has nothing to with incompetence, it is simply that the fires cannot be put out because of the factors concerning intensity outlined above!

Turning to Facebook algorithms and notifications on feed. The Facebook algorithm does not always notify about our (SCP) posts to everyone at the same time. Sometimes you receive notifications in your feed days or weeks later. It is very important to always validate the date of the SCP post looking at the date/hour below the page name. If it’s from the same day, it will be there how many hours ago it was shared… if it’s from longer, it will say how old the post is! To help you a suggestion is to check/update your notifications settings for our page.

The PSP have recently issued a reminder of the “I AM HERE!” program for Adults which is aimed at people who, depending on age or pathology, may become disoriented or unconscious, even momentarily, on the public road.

 The ESTOU AQUI ADULTOS bracelet consists of a matte fabric ribbon and a metal plate with an alphanumeric code and the inscription “Call/Ligue 112”, as can be seen in the image. The bracelet is free, personal and non-transferable. To obtain a bracelet, you need to register in advance and then go to the chosen police station to collect and validate it. More information and place your order here: https://estouaquiadultos.mai.gov.pt/Pages/Home.htm?

Our team at Safe Communities wishes you all the best for the week ahead.

News

PSP raises awareness in schools about discrimination and hate crimes

One of the objectives of the operation is to alert young people that discriminatory acts often take the form of misdemeanours and, at times, reach the level of crime.

The PSP is carrying out awareness-raising actions in 2nd and 3rd cycle primary schools and secondary schools to prevent discrimination and hate crimes and to instil respect for differences.

The ‘Yes to Difference’ operation began this Monday and is part of the Safe School Program, an integrated model of community policing, until January 24 throughout the national territory, the Public Security Police (PSP) reports in a statement.

One of the objectives of the operation is to alert young people that discriminatory acts based on racial and ethnic origin, skin colour, nationality, ancestry and territory of origin or gender identity often take the form of administrative offenses and, sometimes, reach the level of crime.

The PSP calls for reports of situations of discrimination in schools or any other environment, and is also available, through the teams of the Escola Segura (EPES) program, to respond to any requests for intervention to be carried out in person or through the channel escolasegura@psp.pt.

The ‘Yes to Difference’ operation, carried out by EPES, has as its main objective the prevention of all forms of discrimination and the practice of hate crimes, instilling in the children and young people targeted by the actions respect for differences and Human Rights.

Through the EPES of the various commands, the PSP guarantees its security mission of preventing crime and delinquency, specifically aimed at preventing all forms of discrimination and the practice of hate crimes, it explains in the statement.

The National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination 2018/2030, approved in 2018, is based on three action plans on non-discrimination: On the grounds of sex and equality between women and men, on preventing and combating all forms of violence against women, gender-based violence and domestic violence and on combating discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sexual characteristics (OIEC).

Liberal Initiative (LI) party wants to free police officers from administrative tasks to have them on the streets more

“Why do the administrative functions that currently exist in the police force have to be performed by police officers?” asked Rui Rocha, president of the Liberal Initiative, this Sunday.

The president of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, advocates freeing police officers from administrative tasks to put them more on the streets, this being an example of proposals on his list of candidates for the party leadership, presented this Sunday.

“We need more outreach work from the police and less spectacle. We need more police officers on the streets. And there is a question I want to ask: why do the administrative functions that exist in the police today have to be performed by police officers?” asked Rui Rocha.