The Minister of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro, announced today that the Government of the Republic will invest about 20 million euros until 2026 in the reinforcement of equipment in the security forces of the Azores.
“Adding the more than 11 million euros planned in the infrastructures and equipment of the PSP, with the 1.6 million euros of investment underway in the SIRESP and its operability with the communications system of the continent, plus 1.6 ME of investment in the GNR, in the communications and operations center, and the investment planned for surveillance and coastal control, estimated between 6 and 7 million euros, we will be very close to 20 million euros of investment by 2026,” assured the governor, who was speaking to journalists at the headquarters of the parliament of the Azores, in the city of Horta, as part of a visit to the region.
José Luís Carneiro met with the parliamentary leaders of the Azores, after, in January of this year, the Regional Assembly approved a protest vote for the lack of investment in equipment, infrastructure and human resources of the security forces in the archipelago.
“We will assess to what extent this can be done, insofar as we have also planned technological investments in the operating conditions of the PSP and we will see how we can, between investment in technological modernization and the balance with the staff, respond to this concern of the honourable Members,” said the Minister of Internal Administration, referring in particular to the reinforcement of the PSP and GNR staff on the islands.
The governor recalled that, in 2022, there was an increase of 49 PSP agents and 20 GNR guards in the Azores, a number that falls far short of nearly “200 agents” that, according to the political forces with parliamentary seats, will be missing in the region, but that José Luís Carneiro considers to be overestimated.
The holder of the Internal Administration portfolio in the country expressed, on the other hand, his ministry’s availability to collaborate with the autonomous regions in order to fight social problems that affect the two archipelagos and that must be fought in a more comprehensive way.
“Begging, poverty, exclusion, drug addiction, alcoholism, are issues that require an intervention upstream, with families, work to which the PSP can contribute,” explained the minister, noting, however, that it is not the PSP’s job to solve these social problems.
The Minister of Internal Administration, who will participate this Tuesday in the commemorations of the PSP in the Azores, will also meet in the afternoon with the president of the Regional Government, social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro, on the island of Faial.
