“For us, this will provide increased security, both for nightlife and for citizens who travel around Faro during the day, in addition to monitoring mobility on the city’s main arteries. I believe that from today onwards we will all be safer”, the mayor, Rogério Bacalhau, told journalists.

The 32 locations were selected by the PSP and, as explained by the mayor, are related to “the history of problems” and complaints registered in “black spots” in the city, aiming to prevent crimes and repress traffic violations.

The municipality's overall investment, which included the project to expand the fibre optic network and install the system, was “more than €400,000, plus VAT”, said the Mayor of Faro.

The second district commander of the PSP in Faro, Superintendent Mário Oliveira, explained during the network's inauguration session that 27 cameras were installed in shopping and nightlife areas and the remaining 14 on the city's six main roads, operating continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Privacy

In order to protect privacy, the windows, doors and private areas filmed are ‘pixelated’, the images will only be stored for 30 days, the information is encrypted and the images only leave the police for the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Access to the system is only available to agents trained for this purpose and the extraction of images is only authorised for criminal investigation agents, he added.

The PSP district commander, superintendent Dário Prates, said that this project had been “long awaited by Faro City Council, the PSP and citizens”, and assured that it would be used “always respecting and protecting fundamental rights”, being an “essential tool in supporting police activity and crime prevention”.

Superintendent Mário Oliveira recalled that the video surveillance system has been implemented in phases in the Algarve, with 26 cameras activated in Olhão in 2021 and 61 cameras in Portimão in 2022.

He added that these two video surveillance systems have already been used to collect criminal evidence in 181 criminal cases: 137 in Portimão and 44 in Olhão.

Expansion

The PSP is working on expanding the video surveillance system in those two cities, with an increase in the number of cameras, “which is in the process of being authorized”, and also on installing new systems in the cities of Lagos and Tavira, the PSP’s second district commander also revealed.

The session that marked the start of the operation of the Faro video surveillance system was attended by the PSP’s national director, superintendent Luís Carrilho, and the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs, Telmo Correia.

In his speech, the government official stressed that video surveillance is one of the technological means that the Government intends to promote, along with personal cameras (‘bodycams’), “which is a more complex process”, contributing to “a more valued police force”.

Telmo Correia reinforced that video surveillance “makes sense in many cases”, citing data from the PSP that, in Amadora, in the area where cameras were installed, crime “decreased by something like 60% and serious crimes were avoided, including attempted murder”.