During a hearing in a committee of the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, regarding a petition that requests the "implementation of crime prevention and combat measures in the Santa Cruz de Benfica neighborhood and surrounding areas", Ricardo Marques (PS) admitted that there is a "discomfort".

In recent months, he reported, the area has been a "recurring target of security incidents", namely carjackings, home invasions, and "intrusion" in the backyards of houses.

"Just tonight the José Salvado Sampaio school was broken into. They stole the school's iron information board, as well as two aluminum doors", he said.

According to Ricardo Marques, "the proximity" to the neighboring municipality of Amadora and the transport interfaces "have exposed the Santa Cruz de Benfica neighborhood to some type of delinquency".

Since the beginning of the month the authorities have registered the intrusion in seven houses and some young people were mugged when leaving educational establishments.

"A lot of pickpocketing and a lot of these petty thefts. Fortunately, they have very little impact from the point of view of what is the physical impact. In other words, there have been no physical attacks, to register in recent years", he pointed out.

Faced with this feeling of insecurity, the president of the Parish Council defended the need to install a video surveillance system in the border area with the municipality of Amadora, similar to what already exists in the neighboring municipality, and a reinforcement of police surveillance in the most problematic areas.

"The Benfica Parish Council has been asking the Lisbon City Council for two actions, one of them is the installation of video surveillance cameras. This is the third official letter we have sent", he said.

For the mayor, the installation of video surveillance cameras "would contribute to reinforcing the feeling of security" and "deterring the practice of robberies", since in the municipality of Amadora crime has been reduced by 60%.

In addition to the installation of video surveillance cameras, in the petition the residents of Santa Cruz also request the reinforcement of community policing and urge the Ministry of Internal Administration to provide the Benfica police station "with the necessary means and resources", as well as to provide the neighborhood with another night guard.

According to what the mayor of Benfica indicated in the hearing, the local police station is operating with 72% of its staff.

The Municipal Assembly will also hear a representative from the Lisbon Metropolitan Command (Cometlis) and the Municipal Police regarding the petition.

Leia Também: AM de Lisboa aprova venda de terreno à junta de Benfica para habitação (Portuguese version)