Lisbon, June 27, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's Inspectorate-General for Internal Administration warns of a lack of vehicles available to the Public Security Police (PSP) and the National Guard (GNR), duty rosters that "do not ensure 24-hour patrols" and police officers "in insufficient numbers to ensure the functioning" of police facilities.
These are some of the shortcomings detected by the General Inspectorate of Internal Administration (IGAI) during the unannounced inspections carried out in 2023 of 63 police facilities, 42 of which were territorial offices of the National Republican Guard and 21 were stations of the Public Security Police.
The report on the unannounced inspections of the security forces carried out in 2023, now made available by the IGAI, reveals that the GNR's territorial units are operating on a "mere service basis from 09:00 to 17:00 and without their own staff" and that the number of GNR officers is "insufficient to ensure the functioning of the territorial units".
The IGAI also detected police facilities without "human and material resources to guarantee the safety of their respective populations", duty rosters that "do not ensure 24-hour patrols", after-hours service by personnel assigned to patrol, "depriving the public of adequate patrols", and "service provided by staff assigned to inquiries, which is only carried out during office hours".
The organisation that oversees police activity also found that the PSP police stations and GNR posts inspected had a "low percentage of staff trained in domestic violence and victim support status", "a shortage of vehicles available to staff, reducing their capacity to intervene", buildings and facilities in a "poor state of repair or functionally unsuitable for people with reduced mobility", "large facilities with no surveillance system", vacant houses and service areas with no privacy.
The report also points out that there are "buildings with asbestos roof tiles", facilities without specific toilets for the public and "functionally unsuitable" for female staff and for assisting people with reduced mobility, as well as the lack of victim support rooms and "a clear identification or inventory of existing weapons" at the police station or post.
"Detention cells without hygiene and safety conditions, absence of emergency plans and fire extinguishers with outdated maintenance periods, buildings without alternative electrical systems in the event of a power failure" and "old, dilapidated and outdated furniture, small and uncomfortable waiting rooms and service areas without privacy" are other conclusions of the unannounced inspections carried out by the IGAI.
In the report, the IGAI recommends that the PSP and GNR "reinforce and train" their staff, cars, equipment and uniforms, adapt the facilities to the duties of female staff, give the public access to exclusive bathrooms adapted for people with reduced mobility, create and install victim service rooms, repair damaged facilities and equipment and replace asbestos roof tiles.
In addition to the 63 unannounced inspections of PSP police stations and GNR territorial posts, the IGAI also carried out six visits to Temporary Settlement Centres or similar spaces for foreign nationals, which used to be the responsibility of the foreigners and borders service and, with its extinction, came under the remit of the PSP.
The scope of the IGAI's intervention, which carries out these inspections every year, included the conditions in which the public is served, the work of police officers, the detention area, intervention under the Educational Guardianship Act, the Protection of Children and Young People in Danger Act and the Mental Health Act, complaints from citizens, the status of victims and the custody of weapons, security protocols and the packaging and sealing of seized goods.
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