The Association of Police Professionals Union considers that “the management of this process is totally inadequate and causes daily security constraints at Lisbon Airport.
The Association of Police Professionals Union (ASPP/PSP) warned this Thursday for the “very serious situation” that the airport security division of the PSP at Lisbon Airport is going through due to the restructuring of the Foreigners and Borders Service.
The union, in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, stresses that “the restructuring process of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) and the allocation of powers to the PSP will have to be accompanied by the necessary resources,” because “the situation is at its limit.
As part of the restructuring of the SEF, which was delayed until the creation of the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA), the police powers of that body have passed to the PSP, GNR, and PJ, while the current administrative powers regarding foreign citizens will now be exercised by APMA and the Institute of Registration and Notary Affairs.
The Association of Police Professionals Union considers that “the management of this process is totally inadequate and causes daily security constraints at Lisbon Airport”.
“The police officers who are being diverted from their mission to SEF services undermine the operational responsibility of the PSP on site. PSP professionals are placed in other services and in training against their will. Several invitations were made to the Airport Security Division that did not fill the existing gaps. The unattractiveness of the function has to do with the meager and different remuneration for those performing identical functions to which is added the extinction of supplements,” says the union association.
The ASPP/PSP says that many of the professionals working in the airport security division (DSA) have already asked to leave, but have been refused.
“This is the routine reality that is experienced from the DSA. PSP professionals do not have the gift of omnipresence – they cannot be in two, or more, places at the same time”, stresses the structure, adding that “the answers to the questions posed by ASPP/PSP – through various letters – insist on not appearing, and the union does not know the reasons for this lack”.
The restructuring of SEF was decided by the previous government and approved by Parliament in November 2021, having already been postponed twice.