“I have this project in my mind to present a plan in the first quarter of 2026 to strengthen safety and public tranquility in the city of Porto. We are currently working on the execution from a more technical standpoint, on the solutions we will be able to present for this plan,” stated Pedro Duarte today.
The mayor was speaking about a meeting he had this week with the Minister of Internal Administration, Maria Lúcia Amaral, during which he revealed that the government showed “great openness” to discuss various possible solutions, including the potential increase in the number of police officers in the city of Porto, one of the promises made during his election campaign.
“Therefore, we will work in that direction [to increase the number of effective agents]. That is precisely what we are currently exploring, particularly with the different authorities involved, because we also want this plan to be very comprehensive,” he stated.
According to Pedro Duarte, the need for comprehensiveness is justified by some of the results from five days of reinforced PSP policing in the neighborhoods of Pasteleira and Pinheiro Torres. This operation, according to statements by this police force to Lusa, resulted in a migration of trafficking to the neighborhoods of Ramalde and Viso.
“A specific measure can solve a concrete problem, but perhaps we are opening another problem next to it. We have a good example of a police intervention, like the one that took place in recent days in Pasteleira Nova – which we commend – but it does not solve the fundamental problem, because it is temporary, on one hand, and, on the other, it ends up transferring the problem from one area of the city to another,” he declared.
That is why the municipality hopes to have a “slightly more successful” plan, justified Pedro Duarte.
The mayor was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the garden that was created where the S. Sebastião Market once stood, near the Sé Cathedral.
The market building was a point of drug trafficking and consumption in this area of the Historic Center and, with its demolition, Pedro Duarte hopes security will be “returned” to the area.
While acknowledging that “there are urbanistic solutions that help” disperse potential trafficking points, he said he is not “naïve” and realizes that “much more than that” is necessary.
“We actually want to tackle the problem at its root. Therefore, there are other measures that need to be taken, from a social perspective, to provide support to those suffering from this ailment, but also from a policing perspective: having a repressive capability different from what we have had. And a drug-combat strategy that must be different from what we have had,” he concluded.
