The mayor emphasizes that the Lisbon City Council’s priority in installing video surveillance is in Cais do Sodré and Campo das Cebolas, but expressed that he is, “obviously, open to continuing to help the PSP in this regard”.
The president of the Lisbon City Council (CML), Carlos Moedas, said this Thursday that he was not aware of the PSP’s request to install a but highlighted that he was open to helping the authorities in this regard.
“We were not aware of this request from the PSP [de instalação de videovigilância no Martim Moniz]In fact, we are installing almost 240 video protection cameras in Lisbon”, said Carlos Moedas, highlighting that they have already been installed in the parish of Santa Catarina, between Bairro Alto and Chiado.
Carlos Moedas was speaking to journalists after visiting the future daycare center located on Rua Fresca, in Lisbon, a project that is already underway and will have capacity for 84 children, from 4 to 36 months old, in the parish of Misericórdia.
The mayor stressed that the CML’s priority in installing video monitoring is in Cais do Sodré and Campo das Cebolas, but stated that he was, “obviously, open to continuing to help the PSP in this regard”.
Currencies insist on police reinforcement
“Today there is a great security concern in the city, not just a concern, but there are many cases that are reported to me every day, and therefore, I have to speak about this concern and I will continue to insist on what I think is more important, which is to have more police in the city”, he explained.
Carlos Moedas also said that he had asked the Minister of Internal Administration on Wednesday for “another 30 Municipal Police”, insisting that they “can continue to help the city more” in terms of making arrests, “because they are public security police”.
Asked by journalists about the danger of talking about perceptions of insecurity in the city and not waiting for the final data 2024 to take concrete measures, Carlos Moedas stated that he is talking about “factual issues”.
“There is certainly a question of perception here, but there is a factual question. The factual question is what has always been said by the PSP and experts, of an increase in violence in how crimes are committed”, said the mayor, stressing that he was not talk about statistics, “about whether there are more or less crimes”, but rather about “the way they are practiced”.
There are 34 cameras on the streets of Lisbon
According to the municipality, Lisbon currently has 34 video surveillance cameras in the city – 27 in Bairro Alto since 2014 and seven in the Miradouro de Santa Catarina area since 2022.
Previous data points to a total of 33, but a video surveillance camera was added in Bairro Alto.
In response to Lusa, the municipality informed that the next video surveillance cameras to come into operation will be in Cais do Sodré (30) and Campo das Cebolas (32 – previously 30 were planned in this location), expressing its availability to “evaluate and adopt new locations”.
At the moment, the first phase of the plan to increase the video protection system is underway, in which a total of 99 cameras in four locationsnamely Cais do Sodré (30), Campo das Cebolas (32), Restauradores (17) and Ribeira das Naus (20), according to Security councilor Ângelo Pereira (PSD), remembering that they will all be in operation until the end of August.
More than 200 cameras by the end of the term?
A second phase includes 117 video surveillance cameras “in 11 different locations”, he revealed.
In October 2023, the city council announced that in 2024 competitions would be launched for “the placement of another 112 video protection cameras in 11 other areas of the city”: Praça do Comércio, Cais das Colunas, Praça D. Pedro IV, Praça da Figueira, Rua Augusta, Rua do Ouro, Rua da Prata, Rua do Comércio, Rua dos Fanqueiros, Santa Apolónia – Rua Caminhos de Ferro and Santa Apolónia – Avenida Infante D. Henrique.
“In total, another 209 cameras will be installed by the end of the mandate, totaling 242 video surveillance cameras throughout the city”, indicated the municipality, in October 2023.
With the recent data released by the municipality, which point to seven more chambers than initially planned – one more in Bairro Alto, two more in Campo das Cebolas and five more in the 11 zones of the city -, Lisbon will now have a total of 249 video surveillance cameras.
