Yesterday, the city of Albufeira officially inaugurated a video surveillance system with 65 cameras, installed in places with the highest levels of people and traffic, and which will be operated by the National Republican Guard (GNR).
“This is a system that will monitor areas with the highest traffic flow and concentration of people, namely the so-called bar street or 'strip', in order to dissuade and combat crime,” the mayor of Albufeira, José Carlos Rolo, told journalists.
The video surveillance, which actually came into operation on December 30th, 2024, “aims to help security authorities in preventing and fighting crime”, in a city that has been identified as having one of the highest crime rates 'per capita' in the country.
The mayor assured, however, that Albufeira “is a safe municipality” and contested the analysis of the figures made by the National Statistics Institute (INE), “by presenting true figures, in global terms, but which should not be calculated by the 44,000 inhabitants of the municipality”.
“Albufeira, being one of the largest tourist municipalities in the country, has around 500,000 people during the summer and these people do not appear in the statistics”, he said.
Although refuting “the idea that the municipality is unsafe as has been reported”, the mayor considered that video surveillance “will give a greater perception of security to residents and tourists”.
The cameras are installed in areas previously selected jointly by the GNR and the local authority, considered strategic locations and "of greatest concern", allowing real-time monitoring of nightlife areas, the historic center and access to the city.
“These are areas with a history of problems and that deserve greater attention”, said the commander of the GNR detachment in Albufeira, Marco Henriques.
According to Marco Henriques, the system “is not intended to replace the guards”, but is “a very important tool to support and complement the prevention and investigation work of the various criminal police bodies”.
Installing the video surveillance represented an investment of around €900,000, and is a system equipped with modern technology, which includes analytical and research tools, definition of alerts and capture of images in all directions, with great range and resolution.
“The entire operation is guaranteed by the GNR and only a few soldiers with specific training will have access to the system installed in two viewing rooms, one in Albufeira and the other at the Territorial Command in Faro”, Marco Henriques highlighted.
He also said that crime in Albufeira “has been decreasing over time, “despite some statistics being based solely on the number of inhabitants, which distorts the data”.
“We believe that, with new technology, we can do more in preventing and investigating crimes and with greater reliability,” he stressed.
He also added that, “in a second phase, the monitoring area may be extended to other areas of the municipality”.
