Mendes Bota quizzes Government over Algarve’s police

The PSD (Social Democrat Party) deputy wants to know the exact number of policemen (in the various forces) stationed in the Algarve on the dates of 31st December 1999, 31st December 2004 and 31st December 2009.

The politician for the Algarve believes that only with this information will it be possible to know for sure whether there’s been a sufficient increase in the number of GNR, PSP, PJ, SEF or Maritime Authority officers to combat the growing dilemma of insecurity that has been affecting the social stability, and indeed outward image, of the region.

In the introduction to Bota’s letter to the three ministers, he wrote: “According to the Annual Report of Internal Security, the Algarve was the 4th district of the country to register the most cases involving intervention by GNR or PSP police offers in 2008. This is a fact that cannot pass without causing concern, particularly when official statistics show a 6.6 per cent increase in crimes in the Algarve compared to the previous year – and we all know that this figure does not include a lot of other incidents that demoralised citizens simply haven’t got the energy to formalise a complaint over”.

“Violent crimes continue to affect the Portuguese as well as the foreign resident population – putting both the security of people and their possessions at risk, not to mention the exterior image of the Algarve as a major tourist destination. The information I am requesting is essential to evaluate the true worth of measures announced for an effective reinforcement of security in general over the last decade”.

In a statement released to the press recently, Mendes Bota complained that Faro’s Civil Governor Isilda Gomes “with whom I met recently, has not been able to supply this basic information which is vital for any evaluation of the security problems that dog the region”.

Bota stressed, “as to the numbers given out” by the Algarve’s various security forces “about how many more officers have been drafted in, one has to subtract those who have left their posts – and the Algarve – for many different reasons”. “It’s this “net figure” that we’re still unaware of”.