€20 million will be invested to acquire 600 new vehicles for the country’s police force. However, Portuguese police union representatives say it isn’t enough.
Portugal’s PSP (Public Security Police) and GNR (Republican National Guard) will be the recipients of €20m worth of 600 new vehicles. The announcement was made by Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro on Wednesday, who said extra investment in the police was necessary.
Montenegro also said that he wanted to “value the remunerative careers of public administration employees, especially security forces and beyond,” while also stressing that he considered Portugal to be “one of the safest countries in the world.”
The investment had already been announced by the previous government early this year.
However, Portugal’s national police said the move was “insufficient” and “below requirements.”
Union president Armando Ferreira stressed that police are not particularly impressed, and that a lot of Portuguese police equipment is in varying states of decrepitude.
“Obviously, it is always positive to hear the government say it is going to invest in the security forces,” he said, “But you have to realise that this investment has always been made; it has to be made – because if you don’t invest, the police grind to a halt.”
Last month, officers were injured after rioting erupted in several districts of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon after police shot and killed a man from Cape Verde.
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