In response to inquiries, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) confirmed an investigation into the actions of Lisbon’s municipal police, stating that it was initiated following journalistic reports and is being conducted by the Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DIAP) of Lisbon.
Questions posed to the PGR regarding the suspected criminal activities supporting this investigation, whether the inquiry focuses on individual officers or the municipal police service itself, and if the mayor will be questioned, remain unanswered.
The revelation of an inquiry into the municipal police’s conduct was reported today by Diário de Notícias, which notes that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) sees indications of crime, particularly among members of this administrative police who appeared in plain clothes detaining suspects of illegal street vending in Now TV channel reports.
According to Diário de Notícias, the Public Security Police (PSP) found “no problems” with the actions of Lisbon’s municipal police, yet the Regulatory Authority for the Media (ERC) received 11 complaints against the reports involving the municipal police, and is investigating the conduct of reporters from Now TV.
Regarding the ongoing investigation by the MP, the Mayor of Lisbon expressed his full support for the municipal police and all security forces, stating, “I am and always will be on their side.”
The social-democrat Carlos Moedas also defended that Lisbon’s municipal police conducts their actions according to principles of legality, appropriateness, and proportionality, and emphasized his continuous encouragement for any security force to uphold the law and order for the protection of all citizens.
The initiation of this criminal inquiry coincides with the release of a Consultative Council opinion from the PGR on the competencies and responsibilities of municipal police, challenging the stance of the Mayor of Lisbon to authorize the municipal police to detain crime suspects in the city.
The opinion states that “the constitutional law opposes granting the legal status, qualification, and competencies of a criminal police body to municipal police, as it assigns them exclusively administrative police functions and internal security duties,” despite municipal police forces being composed solely of PSP personnel with police roles.
The opinion further specifies that “municipal police agents can only detain suspects in the event of public or semi-public crimes punishable by imprisonment, if caught in the act, and are responsible for drafting the corresponding news report and detention, and for immediately delivering the detainee to judicial authority or criminal police body.”
In response, the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), advocated for a “small change” in the law to allow municipal police to detain suspects caught in the act and take them to a PSP station.
Opposition members in the municipal executive, including PS, PCP, Livre, BE, and Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), criticized the mayor’s stance on increasing the powers of the municipal police, emphasizing that the PGR opinion “cannot be ignored.”
The PS, as the main opposition party, also expressed concern over the Inspectorate General for Home Administration (IGAI) launching a separate inquiry into the actions of Lisbon’s municipal police, particularly due to “the reputational damage for the city council.”
