Portugal Safety and Security report Wednesday 9^th November 2022

 

Good morning – The 9^th November is the date for this year’s Seismic risk awareness exercise which will take place at exactly 1109 hrs.

This has been widely publicised for a very good reason, that is because know what action to take in an earthquake can save your life and those of your family. We never know when a major earthquake may occour the, last major one being in 1967 when a 7.9 major earthquake caused loss of life and extensive damage in the Algarve.

Never adopt the attitude “it will never happen to me”. Even though major earthquakes are infrequent, depending on where the epicentre is, the magnitude and depth, all determine the extent of damage and potential loss of life. So “A Terra Treme” and practicing Drop Cover Hold, especially if you have young children and those with disabilities, is very important. Details here; https://www.aterratreme.pt/

Later this morning safe Communities will be undertaking the exercise and we will publish the photos on social media afterwards.

With some very wet weather around at present a reminder of safety on the road especially motorcyclists. Always wear protective gear, helmet, tough protective clothing and reflective material.  Always ride with the lights on, to be seen; do not ride between queues or moving vehicles; – move away from blind spots of vehicles and adjust your speed to the state of the road and ensure a safe distance.

We also ask everyone to regularly check the weather warnings issued by the IPMA. These can change from time to time and what is issued at the start of the day may well change in accordance with changing weather forecasts. Yesterday he Alcântara area, in Lisbon, was affected by “a low intensity tornado”, which caused damage to the roof of the Food Bank Against Hunger, official sources confirmed.

Patrícia Marques, meteorologist on duty at the IPMA, explained that it was “a supercell, which passed with a lot of activity and made a rotational movement that will have resulted in the image similar to a funnel”.

The “extreme wind phenomenon” was detected by IPMA radar data and was “short-lived in time”. The meteorologist said that the country is being crossed “by a cold frontal surface with a lot of activity”, which is making the Lisbon-Castelo Branco route, on the way to Spain. It is therefore important to regularly check the weather forecasts and warnings in place when planning your outdoor activities.

Civil Protection recorded 182 occurrences in mainland Portugal, between 00:00 and 15:00 yesterday, due to heavy rain and wind, with the districts of Lisbon and Aveiro being the most affected. These were essentially due to flooding on public roads and in urban areas with fallen trees, not counting those referring to the city of Lisbon”.

At around 2:30 pm, in a first assessment, Paulo Santos said he had recorded 106 occurrences, between 00:00 and 13:00 today, across the continental territory, due to heavy rain.The Civil Protection commander also said, at the time, that the districts most affected were those of Porto and Aveiro, mainly due to flooding in urban roads and falling trees.

“There was also a record of an occurrence of an extreme wind phenomenon, in the middle of the morning, around 10:50 am, in Marinha Grande [district of Leiria], which led to the fall of several trees, damage to 14 vehicles and a structure metal that flew and damaged high voltage lines, which led to the intervention of E-Redes”, said Paulo Santos.

With that have a good day and remember the “A Terra Treme” exercise at 1109 hrs!

 

News

October 2022 was the hottest month on record in Europe

October 2022 was the warmest month ever recorded in Europe, the European Union’s Earth Observation Program Copernicus said today, after a summer with record temperatures.

Average temperatures were “almost 2ºC above the reference period, 1991-2020”, the statement said.

The European service, which does not have comparable data before the period 1991-2020, had already announced that the summer of 2022 was the hottest on record (1.34ºC above normal).

“The serious consequences of climate change are evident and we need ambitious climate action at COP27 to ensure that emissions are reduced with the aim of stabilizing temperatures at a level close to the 1.5 degrees set by the Paris agreement”, said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the EU programme, quoted by Agence France-Presse.

The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to try to stop global warming, is taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, until the 18th.

According to Copernicus, “a heat wave led to record daily temperatures in western Europe and an unprecedented month of October in Austria, Switzerland and France, as well as in much of Italy and Spain.”

The European continent is the one that registers the fastest heating on the planet.

In the last 30 years, Europe has seen an increase in temperatures of more than double the global average, with an average warming of about +0.5 degrees Celsius (ºC) per decade, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and of Copernicus released a week ago.

In October, in some parts of the continent, the abnormal heat was added, as in summer, to the lack of rain. “The climate was drier than average in most of southern Europe and the Caucasus,” the statement said.

“Colder-than-average temperatures were recorded in Australia, far eastern Russia and parts of West Antarctica.”

Since the end of the 19th century, the Earth has warmed by almost 1.2°C, with about half of the increase occurring in the last 30 years. This year could be the fifth or sixth warmest on record, despite the impact since 2020 of the climate phenomenon “La niña” — a periodic and natural event in the Pacific, which cools the atmosphere, according to AFP.

 

DiCaprio’s film documentary about the Pedrógão Grande fire opens this week in Portugal

The documentary “From Devil’s Breath”, by Orlando Von Einsiedel, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, which deals with the great fire of Pedrógão Grande in 2017, will be shown this week in Portugal, revealed the US Cinemas.

According to the exhibitor, the film will be shown between Friday and Sunday in Lisbon, Loulé, Viseu, Funchal, Aveiro, Braga, Matosinhos and Coimbra, in a total of 24 sessions.

The tickets have “a symbolic cost of five euros and part of the revenue will be donated to a reforestation project to be selected by Casa do Impacto”, which is an innovation hub promoted by Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, says the exhibitor.

“From Devil’s Breath” is a 40-minute documentary short film that tells the story of survivors of the great Pedrógão Grande fire in the summer of 2017, which killed 66 people.

The film’s production and co-production team brought together several people, including actor Leonardo DiCaprio and journalists Tiago Carrasco and Catarina Fernandes Martins.

The recordings for the documentary took place in early 2020 and portray the story of Nádia Piazza, who lost her son and who was president of the Pedrógão Grande Fire Victims Association, one of the seriously injured, Vítor Neves, firefighter Sérgio Lourenço and by Sofia Carmo, who promotes reforestation projects in the affected area, journalist Tiago Carrasco told Lusa at the end of 2021.

The story of the survivors and what happened in Pedrógão Grande is crossed with the work and perspective of the English ecologist Thomas Crowther, with work in the restoration of ecosystems, who was also in Pedrógão Grande and who proposes solutions to the problem, he explained. According to the journalist, the production came to the idea of making the film in California (United States) or in Australia, but ended up choosing the case of Pedrógão Grande, “because it was so devastating, so concentrated and a tragedy with a huge loss of lives”.

“From Devil’s Breath”, which has already been shown at the Palm Springs Film Festival (USA) and at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), will be shown on Sunday, the 13th, on the North American channel MSNBC and is available on the Peacock streaming platform. The film is shown as part of the documentary series “Tipping Point”, by presenter Trevor Noah and production company Time Studios.

Orlando Von Einsiedel, who wrote “From Devil’s Breath”, won an Oscar for best documentary short in 2017 for the film “The White Helmets”, about volunteers from relief teams in the Syrian war.

According to exhibitor Cinemas NOS, the session of “From Devil’s Breath” at the Amoreiras cinema, on Friday, in Lisbon, will include a debate on climate change with deputy Miguel Costa Matos (PS), with co-producer Catarina Fernandes Martins. , Sofia Carmo, responsible for the reforestation program in Pedrógão Grande, and with moderation by Inês Sequeira, director of Casa do Impacto.

 

 

 

 

Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 2^nd November 2022

Good morning – Firstly thank to all of you who visited our stand at the Mediterranean Garden Fair at Estoi last weekend.

We were certainly kept busy particularly so on both mornings. A broad variety of topics A number of topics were raised but the most common were, land cleaning, rural fire preparedness, firescaping gardens, residency cards, GNR Safe Residence Program, crime levels, the work of Safe Communities, our Facebook page and our work during Covid-19.  I thank those of you who kindly made donations, which helps us a great deal in maintaining our services to the benefit of the community.

My thanks to Jane, Antonia, and Mile for being there to run the stand and to the organizers, Mediterranean Gardening Association, for organising once again such a great community event.

A reminder that the National Earthquake Awareness Exercise “A Terra Treme” will be conducted on Wednesday 9^thNovember at precisely 11.09 hrs.

This is conducted each year with the aim of creating awareness and being prepared for, and what to do should an earthquakes take place. The last major earthquake one was on February 28, 1969 Portugal resulting in two deaths in the Algarve plus 11 more in Morocco. The epicentre was at sea, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of Lisbon and about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the Cape of São Vicente, the south westernmost point of Portugal and of mainland Europe. The earthquake occurred at dawn, at 3:41AM, on a cold night after a rainy day in Lisbon. It registered a magnitude between 7.3 and 7.9 degrees on the Richter scale.

Every day around 10-15 very small earthquakes occur, mostly to the south west/south of Portugal and are seldom felt. However, Portugal is a high risk area hence the importance of awareness, as well of that of tsunamis. To participate simple register on the A terra Treme website and outline how many people will participate and the actions you are taking. This can be at the simplest level with the practice of the 3 gestures (Drop, Cover, Hold), to practicing a more complete exercise that even tests the Emergency Plan, involving different entities. More details here:

https://www.aterratreme.pt/

We are now into November and with the change of weather conditions, higher humidity, wetter and cooler, this is the time of the year when garden waste can be burned in small piles.

Unfortunately sometimes such burnings have become out of control as a result of those responsible not following the law concerning registration/authorisation or safety advice. As a result this has led to damage to rural areas and property and places the community and those who have to deal with such fires at risk.

It is important therefore to follow the law and adhere to the established safety guidelines in burning debris. During the whole year, on days of Very High or Maximum Risk, waste-burning is prohibited unless prior authorisation is obtained from the Câmara Municipal. From 1st of November till 31st of May, whenever the risk of fire is High, Moderate or Low, all that is required is for the Câmara Municipal to be given advance notification.

Lastly as we have now finished the official bathing season a reminder that beaches do not have life guards. So for those of you visiting the beaches and going for a dip in the sea please take extra care. The number of deaths from drown is at an all-time high this year. Please take heed of the presence of rip currents and warning flags that maybe in place. As we have mentioned before some cliffs along the Algarve and west coast are unstable and warning signs are in place. With the rains recently this may have exacerbated the situation. People have been warned!

With that please have a safe week ahead

News

The Mediterranean heats up faster than the rest of the planet and is one of the areas that will “suffer the most” from climate change

The Mediterranean is warming faster than the rest of the planet and a considerable rise in temperatures is expected even in places where the effects of climate change are mitigated, according to projections from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.

The problem is more complex in the Mediterranean, which “heats faster than the rest of the world and is the hotspot for climate change,” said Francisco Doblas-Reyes, director of the earth sciences department at the National Supercomputing Center in Barcelona.

The conclusion is contained in the report “Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change”, published by the center last week, with the collaboration of more than a hundred experts who analyze the evolution of climate change and the impact on the health of citizens.

Projections of temperatures in Spain and the Mediterranean until 2100 indicate that they could rise between two and eight degrees, numbers “especially worrying due to the water pressure in this area”, he said.

Another conclusion is that heat waves and high temperatures will be more and more frequent, which will affect the health of people in Spain, a European country with a very aging population.

According to Doblas-Reyes, the Mediterranean is one of the areas of the planet that “will suffer the most” from the effects of already visible climate change, with one of the hottest Octobers in history.

The Europe-focused report points to “alarming increases” in health risks that countries on the continent are already facing due to extreme weather and climate events, increased risk of transmission of infectious diseases, heat-related illnesses and deaths from exposure to air pollution.

According to the report, exposure to heat waves between the first and second decades of the 21st century (2000-2009 and 2010-2019) increased by an average of 57%, with increases in some areas of more than 250%. 

Web Summit: Seventh edition starts today with more than 70 thousand participants

Newsroom, Nov 01, 2022 (Lusa) – The seventh edition of the Web Summit starts today in Lisbon and runs until Friday, with more than 70,000 participants this year, 2,630 ‘startups’ and companies, 1,120 investors and 1,040 speakers.

Web Summit executive president Paddy Cosgrave recently told Lusa that this year there are “many things”, from “the scale”, to the “sale [of tickets that sold out earlier than ever], three weeks ago”. .

In this year’s edition, the issue of cybersecurity will be under debate, as it continues to be “a big problem”.

Not just from the standpoint of individual security, each individual’s passwords and laptops and devices, “but also cybersecurity” at the country level.

In terms of Portuguese startups attending the event, “we have the largest number ever” and Brazil’s participation has grown a lot, said Paddy Cosgrave.

Regarding expectations for this edition, Cosgrave said that it will be “by far the busiest ever”, noting that the exhibitor space grew “60%”, as did the “drastic” increase in outdoor space.

He recalled that other events in the world are over, in the wake of the pandemic, but that the Web Summit is back busier than ever.

Web Summit is an annual technology conference, held in Lisbon since 2016 and is considered one of the largest and most important technology events in the world.

Note;

Tickets for the Web Summit 2022 is sold out. You can pre-register for the 2023 edition here:

More than 10 million cigarettes seized in a container in Leiria

More than ten million cigarettes in a maritime container parked next to the public road in the Leiria region were seized by the Tax and Customs Authority (AT), the AT have published on its Portal.

The goods, according to AT, would result in a tax evasion of around 1.87 million euros, with a loss of the same amount for the European Union and the Portuguese State.

It was during a control operation carried out by the Southern Operational Division of the Customs Antifraud Services Department and the Lisbon Tax Detachment of the UAF/GNR that they found that the container contained 10,500,000 cigarettes packed in boxes, ready to be sold.

“In order to safeguard the financial interests and the preservation of public health in the 27 States of the Union, the cigarettes were seized, thus preventing them from entering the consumption chain”, the statement said.

 

Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 26^th October 2022

Good morning – It has been a very busy couple of weeks at Safe Communities Portugal starting with Antonia Vignolo (newly elected management board member) and myself attending the seminar in Loule to mark the International Day for Disaster Reduction. This was a full day seminar with some very interesting presentations and an opportunity to discuss relevant issues with Patricia Gaspar Secretary of State for Civil Protection the Mayor of Loule and others in the audience. There was much focus of climate change and what steps need to be taken by governments and local authorities the help safeguard communities.

On 18^th October 2022, David Thomas, President of Safe Communities Portugal gave a presentation at the “Urban Security – Municipalities and the Protection of Public Space Conference” held at the Convento São Francisco, Coimbra.

This two day event, attended by around 300 people, comprised mainly police and Government officials as well as universities and municipalities, was organised by the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI). The Minister of Internal Administration José Luís Carneiro and Secretary of State Isabel Oneto gave addresses at the close of the conference.

The topic which David presented under the six thematic areas, was: “Delivering Police Services using advanced technology”, specifically: “Use of Apps in assisting in the delivery of police services” and “Overseas experiences in the use of police body worn cameras (BWCs)”.

These are both topical issues concerning policing generally, in particular “body worn cameras”, which the government are planning to introduce for police in Portugal shortly. The last law to be introduced was at the end of 2021 covering the circumstances on when they can be used and issues such as privacy and the rights of both police officers and the public. David’s presentation drew upon overseas experiences, particularly in UK, Australia and USA who have used them for many years. The presentation included observations regarding their use, for government to consider in the development, introduction and roll out. This will be published in this week’s English newspapers, the Portugal News and Algarve Resident.

This was also an opportunity to meet with both the Minister of Internal Administration José Luís Carneiro and Secretary of State Isabel Oneto concerning sharing of overseas experiences, the framework of the Urban Security conference and the Local Security Contracts CLS program.

Yesterday I attended the Seminar at the Regional Tourism Algarve in Faro to conclude the policing reinforcement period from 1^st July to 15^th September for the Algarve. During this period there are various programs put in place and a greater visibility of police through increased numbers, to deal with the considerable increase in tourists.  Presentations were made by the GNR, PSP, ANSR (Road safety authority) and SEF as well as an address by the Minister of Internal Administration.

The figures were presented showing a decrease in road accidents from 1^st January to September, compared to the same period of 2019 as well as fewer deaths. The average time to resolve fires was 54 minutes.  Of the 209 fire incidents in the Algarve so far this year, 204 were dominated within 90 minutes. On the crime front there was a slight increase in overall crime during the year but a reduction in serious crime compared to 2021.

A reminder that from yesterday all dogs, cats and ferrets must have and identification microchips. On the official page of the Companion Animal Information System (SIAC), where the animals have to be registered, there is the indication of the “mandatory identification of cats and ferrets”, and that “from October 25, 2022, the transitional period ends, and the mandatory identification of all cats and ferrets, regardless of their date of birth”. More details can be found here:

The Minister of Internal Administration announced yesterday that the GNR will take control of all maritime border posts, including cruise terminals, as part of the transfer of powers from the SEF to the GNR. Within the scope of the restructuring process of the Aliens and Borders Service (SEF), according to the 2021 law that establishes the transfer of powers to the PSP and GNR, the control of cruise terminals would pass to the competence of the Public Security Police, but this will no longer happen, with the National Republican Guard in control of the entire maritime border. I discussed this with a GNR officer yesterday and he agreed this makes senses to ensure a standardized and consistent approach. The date of the introduction has not yet been announced.

Lastly with wetter weather around a reminder to take care on the roads, check tyres and wipers are in good order and use the lights in rain and poor visibility.

Have a safe week ahead

News:

Health misinformation has become an “infodemic” fuelled by covid-19

Health disinformation has escalated with covid-19, a digital “true infodemic” that must be fought through an alliance between public authorities, industry and civil society, warns the World Health Organization (WHO).

“The dimension of this problem and the potential danger to human life became evident with the covid-19 pandemic and forced interested parties to seek more creative, effective and collaborative solutions” , says the manual, to combat misinformation in health and WHO non-communicable diseases, by the Portuguese Francisco Goiana-da-Silva, Francisco de Abreu Duarte and João Marecos.

These types of diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and respiratory diseases, are responsible for almost 90% of all deaths in the WHO European region, covering 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia, most of which avoidable.

The document is the result of three conferences organized by the WHO – Agência Lusa participated in one of these meetings – on the subject and intends to be a manual to help build a set of tools and policy initiatives to combat disinformation in the health area.

“Despite constant warnings from different national and international public authorities, health misinformation continues to increase” , warns the document, advancing that, according to a 2018 survey, half of European Union residents sought health information ‘online’ in 2017, a number that has nearly doubled since 2008.

“This points to a growing trend in which increasingly digitally literate young people seek diagnoses, help and advice through internet searches and self-help tools, and also rely on internet articles as reliable sources of health information”, stresses the manual.

The WHO also emphasizes that, although there are several positive aspects in increasing access to information, this can lead to often worrying results, witnessing an “infodemic” that must be fought through a common and aligned strategy of all parties. .

According to the document, the covid-19 pandemic thus represents a “great opportunity to test how different stakeholders can come together to combat” health disinformation.

This is at a time when “more and more individuals obtain their health information from digital places”, such as search engines or social media platforms, often with incorrect and inaccurate information, which can lead to consequences such as a harmful lifestyle, self-medication, medical treatment abandonment or misdiagnosis.

The document points to the example of several reports of a potential link between autism and vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella that can still be found online, despite having been proven false by numerous scientific studies.

WhatsApp features reset after more than two hours down

The WhatsApp application, a messaging platform that belongs to Meta (owner of the social networks Facebook and Instagram), was down for thousands of users, according to complaints filed this Tuesday morning on the DownDetector page . However, after 10 am, service began to return to normal.

The DownDetector website , which monitors the unavailability of digital services taking into account the information shared by users themselves, has reported more than 3,500 complaints in Portugal since approximately 7:45 am this Tuesday.

The page also has a map where it is possible to verify that the failures reached Portugal, with the majority being registered in the two largest cities in the country, Lisbon and Porto.

On Twitter, DownDetector indicates that the problems on Whatsapp started at 7:17 am (Portuguese time).

The problems didn’t just happen in Portugal. The press particularly reports complaints from users in India, where, according to the website, there were over 20,000 complaints.

Closer to home, in Spain the complaints also surpassed 20,000 and in the United Kingdom, 60,000.

However, around 10:00 am some users started to have access – albeit intermittently – to Whatsapp and, at the moment (10:20 am), it seems that all features have been restored.

So far there is no official statement or note from Meta.

Algarve will have 60 new police officers and two new teams at the airport – PSP

Faro, Oct 25, 2022 (Lusa) – The Faro command of the PSP will now have 60 more personnel, a reinforcement that will allow the creation of two new rapid intervention teams in the security division of Faro Airport, the district commander revealed today.

According to Dário Prates, the PSP currently has 835 agents in the Algarve, a number that has now been reinforced with the opening of 60 new vacancies.

The official was speaking during a ceremony at the command of Faro of the PSP, chaired by the Minister of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro, which was also attended by part of the 60 agents who will perform duties in Faro, 45 of whom are already working in command. .

The entry of new agents will allow the creation of two new rapid intervention teams for the airport, increasing the capacity for rapid reaction and intervention throughout the command, already anticipating the new tasks that the PSP will assume in the scope of border control, said Dário Prates.

Stressing that the means are always “by definition, scarce”, the official praised, however, the “very positive response” within the scope of the identified needs, pointing out airport security and proximity policing as two of the main axes to bet with this reinforcement.

Some of the police officers stationed in Faro are still attending specialization courses, among others, and the presentation of most of the new agents “will take place in the coming weeks”.

The agents who will start working in the airport division will now have a specific training phase ahead, he added.

Also according to Dário Prates, only 7% of the staff of the PSP’s Faro district command is female, with the average age of the agents being 47.8 years.

At the ceremony, José Luís Carneiro noted that this reinforcement “is only possible due to the placement of 900 new police officers who have now completed their training”.

According to the official, the increase in the number of agents and the creation of two new teams at Faro Airport “integrate a wider set of restructuring measures” that will be taken.

The Minister of Internal Administration also recalled that there is a planned investment of 600 million euros until 2026, aimed, in particular, at the modernization of infrastructure and the acquisition of equipment.

COMMENT Safe Communities Portugal attended the ceremony

 

Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 12^th October 2022

 

By David Thomas

Good morning – We start the day with some good news – that the GNR and PSP will have an increase in basic remuneration, between 10.9% and 12.7%, plus an increase in the supplement for service and risk in the security forces, between 18.13 and 21.54 euros from January next year.

Police salaries in Portugal are the lowest in Western Europe and this long overdue increase will go some way in reflecting the difficult and often dangerous work that they do. It is good to see that the highest percentage increase will be for junior front line agents.

On Monday evening heavy rain in Lisbon resulted in 170 occurrences recorded mainly as a result of flooding and downed trees. The emergency services reported that most of the floods have to do with small clogs in downpipes and guttering. With the winter approaching this is an appropriate reminder to clear your guttering and drainage pipes of any blocked debris accumulated over the last months. Pay attention to the weather forecasts as some of these rain storms can be intense accompanied by hail and wind gusts.

Yesterday we posted on our Facebook page that the GNR Emergency Protection and Relief Unit had rescued a woman who had fallen in the Portela do Homem waterfall. She was rescued and received medical treatment. Please be aware that with recent rains in some areas some walking routes maybe unstable after a long period of dry weather.

Take care therefore when hiking in particular: crossing areas with water as they are rather slippery; avoid dangerous areas; do not be distracted by the cell phone and if you have children with you ensure that the route is safe for them. Remember to wear appropriate footwear and ensure you know the route and that your cell phone is full charged.

At Safe Communities we are about to enter a rather busy period as far as our activities are concerned. Yesterday I participated in the 4th FirEUrisk Plenary Meeting, an EU Programme aimed at developing, assessing, and promoting a science-based integrated strategy to improve existing wildland fire risk assessment, create efficient methods to reduce fire risk and adapt management strategies for future climate and socioeconomic changes.

It was a very interesting session with excellent presentations from civil protection/wild fire experts in Greece, France and Spain as well as a European representative on the situation major wild fires that have taken place in Europe this year. Safe Communities is part of the Observatory formed as part of this programme.

On 13^th October Antonia Vignolo and myself have been invited to the VIII Seminar “Civil Protection and the Community”, in Loule, a forum that marks International Day for Disaster Reduction.

On 17^th October Lilia Martins, SCP board member and I will attend an EU Horizon consortium meeting and on 15^th and 19^th October, I will be travelling to Coimbra where I have been invited to speak at the Urban Security conference organised by the Ministry of Internal Administration. The Coimbra Conference is an important moment for sharing experiences and for debate between Portuguese Municipalities, the Security Forces and Services and the Internal Administration on issues related to Urban Security. I last spoke at this conference in 2019 and this occasion my topic will fall under the general heading of “Policing: New Technologies Potential and Challenges”

We then have a few days break before the Mediterranean Garden Fair on 29^th and 30^th October in Estoi, where we will have stand, where Antonia, Mike Evans and myself will be very pleased to see you. More details on our Facebook page.

As you can see it can be a busy life at Safe Communities Portugal.

With that please have a Safe week

 

News

Christian Brückner, the German suspect in the Maddie McCann case, has been charged with five new sexual crimes committed in Portugal

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been charged in Germany with unrelated sexual offences.

German prosecutors say the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is ongoing separately.

Christian Brückner, suspected of the murder of the British girl Madeleine “Maddie” McCann, has been charged in Germany with five new sexual crimes, allegedly committed between December 28, 2000 and June 11, 2017 in Portugal.

“The accused is the same person against whom accusations were made in connection with the disappearance of the 3-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann,” the Braunschweig prosecutor’s office said in a statement, which explained that three crimes of aggravated rape and two of abuse of minors.

The charges in full:

• At some point between 2000 and 2006: The rape of an unidentified woman aged between 70 and 80 in a holiday home in Portugal
• At some point between 2000 and 2006: The rape of a German-speaking girl believed to have been at least 14 years old in his home in Praia da Luz
• 2004: The rape of a 20-year-old Irish woman after entering her apartment in Praia da Rocha
• 2007: The sexual abuse of a 10-year-old German girl on a beach in Salema, Faro
• 2017: The sexual abuse of an 11-year-old Portuguese girl in a playground in Bartolomeu de Messines

In a statement, the prosecutor in Braunschweig, Germany, said: “The investigation concerning the case of Madeleine McCann is ongoing separately from these charges.

“Due to the ongoing investigation the prosecution cannot at the current time give any information on the status of that investigation.”

In June 2020, the prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig (in the center of the country) opened a case against 44-year-old Brückner, based on “material evidence” for the kidnapping and murder of Madeleine McCann.

Maddie disappeared from the tourist apartment that her family rented in Praia da Luz, Algarve, on the night of May 3, 2007, when she was 3 years old, taken from the room where she slept with two other brothers.

National Cyber ​​Defence Strategy to be approved “soon”

Lisbon, Oct 11, 2022 (Lusa) – The Minister of Defence, Helena Carreiras, said today that the National Cyber ​​Defence Strategy should be approved “soon” and that “all allies recognize” Portugal “an “exemplary response capacity” in this area.

“(…) problems all allies face. This does not define our reliability. What defines it is our resilience and ability to implement solutions to these problems and, on this point, I assure you that all Allies recognize Portugal as an exemplary response capacity”, defended Helena Carreiras.

The minister is being heard in a regimental hearing of the Defence Commission, in the Assembly of the Republic, which will be followed by a hearing behind closed doors on the recent cyberattacks on the General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA), which led to the exfiltration of classified NATO documents, potentially required by the PSD.

Anticipating this topic a little, Helena Carreiras referred to the efforts made in terms of cyber defence, noting that “in terms of technological capacity, investments within the framework of the LPM [Military Programming Law] have allowed improvements to be achieved and we plan to reinforce this line of investment in permanent update”.

“We hope that the National Cyber-Defence Strategy can be approved soon by the Council of Ministers”, he added.

The official also stressed that “the cyber security of any organization and its ability to act depend primarily on its human resources”.