Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 6^th November 2024

 

Good morning. We hope many of you participated in the A Terra Treme Awareness exercise held throughout the country yesterday.  This was promoted by regional Civil Protection authorities, in partnership with local educational communities, firefighter associations, municipal civil protection services and other civil protection agents, awareness-raising actions on the issue of seismic risk. The 12th edition of ‘A Terra Treme’ took place at 11:05 am in collaboration with several public and private entities, with registrations open to the public on the website www.aterratreme.pt.

Safe Communities Portugal was invited as a guest to the Dr. Garcia Domingues Elementary School in Silves to witness the exercise held there. In addition it was a great pleasure for us at to be invited as an Observer to attend the simultaneous exercise PROCIVALG_24.2 to test the Special Emergency Civil Protection Plan for Seismic and Tsunami Risk of the Algarve took place in the area of Search and Rescue Intervention with 7 different scenarios.

These included 1: Search and Rescue of collapsed Structures; 2: Water level intervention – bridge collapse; 3: Accidents involving hazardous substances; 4: Search And Rescue for collapsed structures; 5: Activation of Tsunami Risk Population Warning System (Sirens) with evacuation from Rock Beach and rerouting emergency routes to safe zones/meeting points and 6: Inoperability of the Silves Health Centre.

Last week Safe Communities was kindly invited by Australian Ambassador McCormack to give a presentation of our work to a group of around 20 Consular officials from various embassies held at the Australian Embassy in Lisbon. The topics covered were: disaster risk reduction, particularly in the case of earthquakes, fires and flooding; improved community preparedness in a crisis scenario and heightened risk awareness to avoid becoming a victim of crime. Following the presentation there was discussion related to these topics focusing primarily on crisis management.

Turning to Spain. Yesterday the Generalitat’s Emergency Coordination Centre declared the end of the yellow warning for rain and storms in the north of the province of Castellón, meaning that there are no longer any alerts in force throughout the Valencian Community. Working in the affected areas by the floods, more than 1,700 firefighters from 42 organisations and 6,700 soldiers were deployed on the ground. Almost 17,000 soldiers, Guardia civil and national police officers were deployed in the areas affected by the DANA in the province of Valencia.

This was a major catastrophe with some 215 lives lost, and the number injured not yet counted. There were 100,000 estimated cars damaged or destroyed as well as those in underground car parks, where it is feared that more bodies may be found.

At one stage nearly 700 mm of rain fell in a 3 hour period, more than a year’s worth in the area of Valencia concerned. This amount would have similar impacts in many cities, in any country, so it is essential to minimize the effects by ensuring that weather forecasting is timely and accurate; and that alerts are given as far in advance as possible so that people are aware and prepared. Early warnings are essential to minimize casualties and loss of life.

Our team at Safe Communities Portugal wish you a good week ahead.

News

PSP’s Community Police Model to be reviewed

The PSP’s community policing model will be reviewed, the Minister of Internal Affairs said today, defending its importance to communities and also promising greater investment from the Government.

“The PSP has had a programme for many years that needs to be revisited, which is community policing. This involves having more trained staff and a dialogue that needs to be held with local authorities, social security and neighbourhood associations. I am confident that this work will be done”, stated Margarida Blasco, stressing: “It is very important that citizens trust their police. The Government trusts the police”.

Speaking to journalists at the end of the first congress of the Police Professionals’ Union Association (ASPP/PSP), which took place this weekend at the Faculty of Law in Lisbon, the minister explained that there are 500 future agents being trained at the moment and that this review also involves strengthening the conditions for police officers.

“We are going to invest in training and, to do so, we need to open competitions for agents, chiefs and officers. We are paying close attention and in this constant dialogue that we have with the unions and the police, one of the programs that we are going to revive is community policing”, she reinforced.

Among the equipment that will be the target of investment are bodycams, tasers and new vehicles for the Public Security Police (PSP), but Margarida Blasco recalled that these issues must go through public tenders before they can reach the agents on the ground.

“Public tenders are slow and we have to comply with the law. Now, we intend to invest in bodycams, tasers and the equipment that is necessary for police action. Obviously, it is registered and we are waiting for the tenders to end”, she stressed, clarifying that the decision on the two public tenders already contested regarding bodycams is in the courts and that the Government is awaiting this outcome.

 

INTERPOL’s largest-ever operation against human trafficking and people smuggling

GLASGOW, United Kingdom – INTERPOL today is releasing preliminary results of its largest-ever operation against human trafficking and migrant smuggling, carried out across 116 countries and territories.

Operation Liberterra II (29 September to 4 October) led to the rescue of 3,222 potential victims of human trafficking and identified 17,793 irregular migrants.

Authorities around the world conducted police raids, reinforced strategic border points, monitored nearly 24,000 flights and deployed officers to known trafficking and smuggling hotspots. Globally, nearly 8 million checks were carried out against INTERPOL’s databases.

A total of 2,517 arrests were made during the week – 850 of which were specifically on human trafficking or migrant smuggling charges.

Operational coordination units were set up in Argentina, Senegal, the Philippines and North Macedonia to assess intelligence and facilitate cooperation between countries within their respective regions and beyond. The operation also saw an unprecedented level of support from 15 specialized units from INTERPOL’s General Secretariat, partner organizations, national agencies and NGOs.

 

INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said: “In their relentless pursuit of profit, organized crime groups continue to exploit men, women and children —often multiple times over. While still preliminary, the results of this operation highlight the vast scale of the challenge facing law enforcement, underscoring that only coordinated action can counteract these threats.”

INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Stephen Kavanagh said: “Beyond providing a snapshot of global trafficking and migration trends, the operation served as a vital capacity building opportunity for countries, fostering relationships between specialized units, and enhancing cross-agency collaboration.”

Trafficking-fuelled fraud

The week-long operation uncovered dozens of cases in which trafficking victims were deceived and coerced into committing fraud, marking a clear departure from traditional trafficking patterns, where human exploitation is the sole criminal objective.

Targeting online scam centres using human trafficking victims has been an operational priority since INTERPOL issued an Orange Notice warning its membership of this growing and globalizing trend. In many of these cases victims are lured with false promises of employment and are kept there through intimidation and abuse.

In the Philippines, for example, officers raided a warehouse where more than 250 people, mostly Chinese nationals, were running romance scams on an industrial scale. Officers are now combing through seized devices and carrying out interviews to separate the potential victims of trafficking from members of the criminal enterprise.

On the other side of the world, in West and Central Africa, officers uncovered eight separate cases, involving multiple victims forced into exploitative pyramid schemes. Once recruited, they were transported across borders and held against their will, often suffering physical and psychological abuse.

In one instance, 24 Togolese victims were safeguarded in Mali. The women had been promised employment in locations as far away as North America, but instead, they were charged “recruitment fees” of up to USD 6,000 to operate a multi-level marketing scheme. They were then forced to target family and friends to join as well. So far, 10 arrests have been made.