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The importance of the safety of the foreign community and overseas tourists was highlighted by the Minister for Internal Administration Eduardo Cabrita, during the presentation of the “Safe Summer” program held at the Regional Tourism Algarve (RTA) Faro Headquarters on 22^nd June.

To reinforce this message, the Secretary of State for Internal Administration Isabel Oneto gave an overview of the Local Security Contracts (CLS) and highlighted the important work undertaken by Safe Communities Portugal (SCP) as part of this program. She stressed the importance of the community and the security forces working together in maintaining the Algarve as a safe destination.

A protocol was then signed by the Secretary of State and David Thomas President SCP outlining new initiatives regarding security in the Algarve which the two parties will develop over the next 12 months.

Following on from last year, Safe Communities has proposed a number of new initiatives which were agreed by the Ministry and incorporated into the new protocol.

These will include projects such as the development of crime prevention leaflets in additional languages to reach out to tourists through tourist information centres throughout the region. This will be reinforced by videos and several displays such as those held at Mar shopping and Faro Airport earlier.

There will also be a project to encourage people to report suspicious activities and crime as well as a project involve students understanding the work of the police.

David Thomas President of Safe Communities Portugal stated “I am very pleased to be able to sign this protocol at such an important event. We have consistently stressed the importance of everyone working together not only to help reduce crime, but also to convey important messages concerning to the prevention and protection of the population against rural fires as mentioned by the Minister”.

He added “We have been able to reflect the views of the foreign community to Government both concerning civil protection and security matters and it is encouraging that these views have been heard and acted upon, in developing projects that benefit both residents and tourists alike”.

Eleven people, including five doctors and one pharmacy owner, were detained on Tuesday 2^nd July by the Polícia Judiciária force, as part of a major operation launched early in the morning across the country, the PJ has revealed.

In a statement, the PJ said that the operation involved searches in doctors’ surgeries and health units, residences and other premises, and the fulfillment of arrest warrants related to “facts that may constitute … the crimes of corruption, serious fraud, documents forgery and criminal association.”

The suspected potential damages caused to the National Health Service (SNS), according to the PJ, is estimated at €1 million.

“At issue are several acts, consisting of the issuing of manual prescriptions, using the existing exceptions … which allow them to be 100% subsidised by the SNS, in addition to digital revenues, of very high values and with numerous units prescribed,” the PJ said.

According to the same statement, “drug prescription scenarios were created, not in line with the applicable legislation, which may imply the acceptance of advantages in forms liable to criminal responsibility, with the Portuguese state damaged, for the subsidising of medicines being misallocated.”

The operation was carried out by the PJ’s National Anti-Corruption Unit (UNCC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, as part of a drive to combat fraud to the SNS.

A total of 110 PJ inspectors were involved, along with various members of staff from the ministry and the organisation “Infarmed”, the medicines regulator. A total of 30 search warrants and 11 arrest warrants were issued.

The work is being monitored by three public prosecutors from Sintra’s Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP), in the presence of two judges from the Sintra circuit court.

The detainees – five doctors, one pharmacy owner, and five other people – are aged 40 to 79. They are to be brought before a judge for initial interrogation and the application of any remand or bail conditions.

 

In June, the average number of calls made at the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) skyrocketed. On certain days, there were periods when operators took, on average, six and eight minutes to answer the phones, when the recommended number is seven seconds. In the same month, almost ten thousand calls were lost and only half were recovered.

Internal data from INEM obtained by the Jornel de Noticais (JN) reveal many problems in the Urgent Patient Guidance Centers (CODU). First of all, serious shortages of human resources. Practically every day there are fewer pre-hospital emergency technicians (TEPHs) in service.

According to the information to which the JN had access, on June 21, Friday after the Corpo de Deus holiday, between 10.30 and 11.00, the operators took an average of six minutes to answer the calls transferred by the exchange 112. On the 24th, St. John’s Day in Porto, between 10.00 am and 10.30 am, the average time was eight minutes.

In response to the JN, INEM clarified that these are “service peaks”, “that represent exceptions to the punctual service which is the performance of the CODU”.

However, throughout the month, there are several examples that point to many difficulties. On day 2, the three CODUs (Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon) answered a total of 3465 calls, with an average service time of 217 seconds (3.6 minutes).

That day when there was less TEPHs at the service (64 when the average of the month is 70). On the same day 2, a total of 1716 calls were disconnected at the origin and the call-back system only retrieved 28% of the contacts. The next day, 1124 calls were lost and 25% were recovered.

Not all outgoing calls at the source are unresponsive emergencies. The INEM explains that some are to ask if the ambulance is delayed, others are turned off because the caller realizes that someone has already called INEM and there are also abusive uses.

Between 1 and 24 June, of the 89 215 calls answered, 9805 were turned off before the operator answered and only 49% were retrieved. About the remaining 51% no one knows the purpose they had.

It is claimed that with a deficit of more than 400 TEPHs, the coverage does not stretch. Professionals are lacking in CODU and in ambulances. As a result, call waiting times increase, thousands are lost in the middle, and the inoperability of the means grows.

The numbers are not surprising to the vice president of the Pre-Hospital Emergency Workers’ Union (STEPH). And July and August “will be worse, both at media level and at CODU level,” predicts Rui Lázaro.

July and August can worsen

INEM guarantees that in the CODU “the scales will be as complete as possible” and stated the recent authorization of the Government that allows workers to work up to 80% of their base remuneration.

Rui Lázaro is not so optimistic. The scales of this month already indicate problems. The CODU Norte has, on average, 15 scheduled operators per shift, when the minimum is 19, says the STEPH leader. Of those, it remains to be seen how many will actually be present because there are always unpredictable shortages and “last-minute changes to open up means that are inoperative.” It should be noted that the TEPH can work both in the CODU and in the INEM.

In the ambulances, the July scales are also lacking. The ambulance Porto 1 (in Rua de Faria Guimarães) “has already closed the night shift” and of the 62 planned, has 12 assured.

For Rui Lázaro, in addition to the shortage of TEPH, there is growing dissatisfaction among professionals with a recent schedule, which is increasing the unavailability of technicians to work overtime.

Starting today until 30^th September, Portugal is in the Critical Fire Period. This means we need to reinforce all our efforts to prevent fires.

Regardless of the actual fire risk in your area the following applies:

Burning for grassland renewal, cleaning stubble or debris that is uncut or cut on the ground, but NOT in piles, is not permitted

The burning of piled-up waste is not permitted

The use of stoves, BBQs and grills is prohibited in all rural spaces, except where used outside of the critical areas and in places duly authorised for the purpose. Please note that BBQs are permitted in private gardens, but the owner is liable should the BBQ catch fire to surrounding vegetation.

Smoking and all types of naked flames are prohibited in woodland and forests.

Balloons with a lit fuse and rockets are prohibited. Fireworks are only permitted subject to authorisation from the Municipal Council.

Fumigating and pest control in apiaries are prohibited except where the fumigators are fitted with spark retention devices.

Spark retention devices and flame covers must be used on exhaust pipes and chimneys of machinery with internal or external combustion engines and on heavy transport vehicles. One or two 6 kg fire extinguishers must be carried depending on whether the maximum weight is less or more than ten tonnes

In addition to the above the emergency services have been reinforced in order to help prevent fires and protect the population should a fire occur.

The investigation and fight against forest fires are being strengthened by uniting the Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Algarve and the Spanish of Andalusia in a cross-border project worth 24.6 million euro.

The project, called CILIFO – Iberian Center for Research and Fighting Forest Fires, involves 15 institutions and bodies of the Euro region Andalusia-Algarve-Alentejo, as well as specialized agencies, municipalities and universities.

One of the Portuguese partners, the only one in the Alentejo, is the University of Évora, which on 1^st July was the venue of the public presentation and the launching of CILIFO.

Research and strengthening of cooperation between universities and civil protection systems in support of forest fire prevention and control in Andalusia and southern Portugal are at the heart of the project, which includes a common research, training and awareness-raising plan to be developed in the three regions, indicated UÉ.

The researcher responsible for the project at UÉ, Rui Salgado, explained to Lusa that CILIFO has a financing of 24.6 million euros, being co-financed at 75% by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Program of Cooperation INTERREG VA Spain-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020.

What triggered the launch of the initiative, whose candidature was approved last year, despite the actions started this year, had to do with the fires and “tragedies” that occurred in Portugal in 2017, he stressed.

Since then, “in Portugal, there have been many entities concerned with fires, they have opened different programs for projects” in this area and “it was created in the public opinion, but also in the institutions the need to intensify the fight” to the fires he said.

But he continued, to that end, “there was a need to improve the investigation, to know better how it is going to be combated, and also to take into account that the current conditions, especially from a climate point of view, are different” nowadays, so that climate change is a variable to be considered “in strategies for the prevention and fight against fires”.

According to Rui Salgado, “a large part of the funding” will be applied to infrastructures, such as the creation of CILIFO, which will be in Huelva, Andalusia, and the “training to combat forest fires of the operational ones”, as well as “in awareness of populations and students to a set of measures they can take “to prevent fires.

CILIFO “also has an important component in the area of ​​research” and this “will be the main work” of the UÉ, through three research centres, he said.

The Institutes of Earth Sciences (with specialists in remote sensing, meteorology and climate) and Agrarian and Mediterranean Environmental Sciences (forest engineering, forest fires and remote sensing) and the Centre for Research in Mathematics and Applications (mathematical modeling of support, particularly fire prevention) are the units.

“Three years is some time, but it is not much,” admitted Rui Salgado, regarding the duration of the project, assuming that, in the end, the goal is for the center to be set up in Huelva, for the network of connections between partners to be extended and that the research to be carried out in the EUS will allow a “qualitative leap” to help “forestall better” forest fires.

The main beneficiary of CILIFO is the Junta de Andalucia. The other Spanish participants are the Andalusian Environment and Water Agency, the State Agency for Scientific Research – Doñana Biological Station, the Once and Finnova foundations, the National Institute for Agricultural Research and Technology and Food and the universities of Cadiz, Córdoba and Huelva.

On the Portuguese side, besides the Alentejo University, the Intermunicipal Community of Algarve and the municipal councils of Castro Marim, Loulé, Monchique and Tavira, in the district of Faro are partners of the project.

 

The number of foreigners living in Portugal increased by 13.8% in 2018 to a total of 480,300, just under 5% of the total population, the highest number since the foreigner and border service was set up in 1976, it said in a report issued on Friday.

The agency’s 2018 report said this was the third year in a row that the number of foreigners in the country had increased, particularly Italians, who increased by 45.9% compared to 2017, and now number 18,862.

Brazilians, however, continue to be the largest foreign community with 105,423 nationals, representing more than a fifth of all foreigners in Portugal.

The report also said that French nationals are also increasing in number and there are now 19,771, which is a 29.1% rise compared to the previous year.

Ukrainians are the only ones whose numbers are falling, with a 10% reduction last year to a total of 29.000.

According to the foreigners and border service more than two-thirds of the foreign population (68.9%) lived in and around Lisbon, Faro (77,489) and Setubal (40,209).

On 25^th June the Judiciary Police and the Tax Authority, through the National Anti-Corruption Unit (UNCC) and the Directorate of Fraud Investigation and Special Action Services (DSIFAE), respectively, carried 50 home searches and made 14 detentions, on suspicion of criminal association, qualified tax fraud and money laundering, in a criminal case whose investigation is conducted by the Department of Criminal Investigation and Action of Lisbon.

The detainees, aged between 20 and 77, are suspected of belonging to an organized network which, since at least 2017, engaged in intra-Community VAT fraud in the acquisition of telecommunications equipment.

For this purpose they used the formation of successive one-person companies without any real activity and subsequent billing, without VAT being paid to the state’s coffers. The assessed loss is in excess of 6.5 million euros.

The criminal activity of this organized network was boosted by the use of the online sales platforms of the largest national companies in the sector, allowing them to obtain an exposure and sales volume that otherwise would not have reached them.

The detainees will be present at the Court of Criminal Investigation of Lisbon during the day of tomorrow, for first judicial interrogation and application of coercion measures.

Please be aware if you are travelling in Europe

Hit by an intense heat wave, which will last until at least the weekend, most of the countries of Europe, from Spain to Sweden and Germany, passing through France, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Switzerland, are recording record temperatures , with thermometers over 40 degrees Celsius at various places.

However in Portugal, temperatures are below average for the season, with some cloud and occasional showers.

One of the factors determining this is that a mass of hot air, coming from the Sahara desert, is being pushed far north by the wind, scorching all those countries unaccustomed to such temperatures.

In Portugal, on the contrary, is under the influence of a depression, which has remained in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, bringing with it the cloudiness and precipitation. This depression prevents the mass of hot air from the African desert from reaching here.

The other countries in Europe cannot say the same, starting in Spain, already here, where forecasts point to very high temperatures, above average for the season, in the whole territory, except for Galicia and Asturias. In some Spanish cities, thermometers may reach 44 or 45 degrees Celsius.

In anticipation of high temperatures, alerts have been made in the different countries to European citizens for special care with heat. In France, which still has in memory about 15 thousand dead there recorded during 2003, many schools in the region of Paris cancelled classes and sent the children home. The final examinations, which were scheduled for this week, were also cancelled and postponed for the first week of July.

French and German weather services have warned of the possibility of new temperature records in some of their cities, which can reach 40 degrees Celsius, levels never before registered at this time of year. “It’s an unprecedented situation because it’s happening very early in June,” said Emmanuel Demael of the French meteorological agency, quoted in the European press.

“The situation on the continent is being conditioned by a depression located northwest of the Iberian Peninsula,” said the the meteorologist Ricardo Tavares. “It is this depression that brings, in frontal waves, the rain and cloudiness that have characterized the last days,” stresses the expert.

To compete for this situation, the Azores anticyclone is at this time more weakened and located far to the south, thus allowing the passage of this depression to the Portuguese mainland. “It is not very frequent at this time of year, but sometimes it happens,” notes Ricardo Tavares, noting that early summer in 2018 was also very similar.

 

 

Eduardo Cabrita, the minister of Internal Administration, outlined on Saturday 22^nd June the program to ensure the necessary resources to guarantee public safety in the Algarve region, as well as cope with the expected fires.

“What we will have over the summer is a boost in resources that allows us to say that we are prepared for a safe Algarve. We are prepared with an additional presence of means from the PSP, the GNR and a reinforcement of the SEF presence at Faro Airport, “said Eduardo Cabrita.

Safe Communities Portugal were in attendance at the announcement made as part of the Safe Summer event held at Regional Tourism Algarve Headquarters in Faro.

Regarding Civil Protection and the protection of the forest against fires, “given the characteristics of our forest and climate change, we must be aware that risk requires that priority be given to prevention, forest clearing and in programs such as the “Safe Village, Safe Persons”.

“We will certainly have fires. What happened, especially here in the Algarve last year, is that absolute priority has been given to safeguarding human life. We have tested mechanisms to support the population, with great involvement of municipalities and all institutions in the region”, he added.

In the field of public safety, PSP and GNR, working on the ground, closer to the population, both will have a considerable reinforcements in the summer.

The PSP will be reinforced by 36 teams from the Intervention Corps of the Special Police Unit, which will include a total of 360 men. During the summer, four Prevention and Immediate Response Teams – two in Faro, two in Portimão – and mixed policing teams, made up of PSP agents and counterparts from the Spanish Police and the French National Police, will also be affected during the summer.

The GNR, meanwhile, will have about 200 soldiers for permanent reinforcement, as well as four cinotechnical teams (man and dog) and others as patrols on horseback.

There will also be 500 soldiers posted for the main summer events», with emphasis on the concentration of Faro’s Motoclube and the Candido de Oliveira Super Cup.

Also the GNR will have collaborations with security forces estarngeiras, in this case the Spanish Civil Guard, the Carabinieri of Italy and the Gendarmerie Nationale, of France.

As part of the collaboration the President of Safe Communities Portugal David Thomas and Secretary of State for Internal Administration Isabel Oneto signed a protocol at the event covering several initiatives to help maintain the Algarve as a safe destination.

In the airports there was a 40% increase in the number of staff of the Aliens and Borders Service, while negotiations were still underway between the Government and ANA Airports “to increase the electronic control points” in order to avoid congestion and long queues. Eduardo Cabrita.

Regarding thel Civil Protection Emergency Authority, the four new Permanent Intervention Teams, the fire departments of Alcoutim, Monchique and Portimão, were highlighted, increasing the number of professional teams in the Algarve to nine.

There will also will be stationed permanently in the region an Extended Attack Group, made up of 35 soldiers and seven vehicles.

Meanwhile, four aerial facilities, all of them light helicopters, are already operating in the Algarve. As of July 1, the Loulé heliport will become the temporary home of a heavy-duty helicopter.

This is the reinforcement that the region can count on this summer, although the possibility of further strengthening is open if the situation demands it.

Under the provisions of article 86, paragraph 13, b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Attorney General’s Office and the Judicial Police have issued a statement.

In a criminal investigation involving terrorist crimes, in particular as regards the participation of national citizens in the ranks of the Islamic state, a police operation has been conducted to effect the arrest of an individual suspected of having provided support to combatants of that terrorist organization.

The police action occurred in the early hours of June 16, and a home search was carried out accordingly to the residence where the same person was located.

The citizen is now accused in the United Kingdom for several years, and from there he has developed various activities for the Islamic state, namely as support and facilitator to the movement of other nationals to the territories of Iraq and the north of Syria.

This investigation, which is still ongoing, is essentially limited to those residing in the national territory.

The defendant was present for judicial interrogation on Monday, 17, and the preventive custody measure was ordered.