Articulation between intelligence, investigation, and law enforcement is fundamental for security

"The articulation between the intelligence services, the different criminal investigation bodies and security forces is fundamental for Portugal to respond to the various risks" in the field of public safety and security, claimed Prime Minister António Costa at the ceremony to open the new facilities and powers of the Internal Security System in Lisbon.

Recalling that Portugal is indicated as the seventh safest country in the world and the fourth in the European Union, António Costa underlined that "these results are not by chance", rather they arise from the internal security model of shard powers that has been in place in Portugal for more than two decades.

"When at the start of the century, the Criminal Investigation Organisation consolidated what only take place occasionally (enhance the GNR and PSP as the law enforcement bodies), this was a step many feared. Twenty years onwards, no one doubts the quality of criminal investigation carried out by these two law enforcement agencies", he said.

For this reason, it makes sense to move towards a new degree of collaboration with the security forces and the Criminal Police, especially because the European assessments of the Schengen free circulation system indicated the lack of a single point of contact for international police cooperation as one of the major Portuguese flaws.

International cooperation

"Fortunately, with this single point of contact we now have, the capacity to develop international police cooperation is much improved", he noted.

The Prime Minister said that "we live in a Schengen area without internal borders all the way to Poland. Without highly intense cooperation, we will not have the capabilities to respond to security requirements", in which he integrated the reform of the border system "with the option of separating administrative and law enforcement powers".

"We can’not demand from the police what isn’t theirs to hold. The police is not meant to take in and integrate, rather ensure the security of the State, the people and goods, maintain order and act under the Public Prosecution Office to conduct the necessary criminal investigations", he stressed.

Other administrative bodies, to wit the Integration, Migration and Asylum Agency, must be charged with "taking in with decency" those who are refugees or those who immigrate and are looking to "develop new activities in life" in Portugal, legally.

"As such, this was a very important political choice to enhance the police scale and that of hosting and integrating [persons]. At the same time, we strengthened our border control system because we started having two security forces that, together, have 40 thousand operatives– a capacity we’d never achieved. Yet cooperation between the bodies is fundamental here", he stated.

The Minister of National Defence, Helena Carreiras, Home Affairs, José Luís Carneiro, and Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro attended the ceremony.