The previous Government launched a public tender in April last year, worth 1.48 million euros, to purchase the Unified Security Platform for Video Systems, to manage, namely, the information collected by 'bodycams'.

This tender has already been challenged twice, the last time in March this year, and is currently suspended.

In a response sent to Lusa, the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) states that the jury of the public tender is currently "analysing the opinion of one of the competitors to the preliminary report that was sent to all competitors" on 9 April.

This platform will have the requirement to centrally manage all types of technology associated with video surveillance equipment, namely portable cameras for individual use by police officers, the so-called 'bodycams', and municipal video surveillance systems, as well as the connection to remote systems installed in night entertainment establishments or shopping centres.

However, only after the tender for the purchase of the platform is concluded will the phase of acquisition of 'bodycams' to equip the PSP and GNR elements follow.

When asked if the current Government will maintain this platform decided by the previous executive, the MAI replied that the technical requirements of the platform in tender were defined by a working group made up of elements of the security forces and the technological area of the MAI, with "this and other technological means being considered of special operational importance".

The Ministry supervised by Margarida Blasco also states that after "the conclusion of this tender procedure, the needs" regarding the quantity of cameras to be acquired will be reviewed with the forces.

The intention of the previous Socialist Government was to gradually acquire around 10,000 'bodycams' by 2026, with an investment of five million euros and, when the tender was announced in April 2023, it was announced that the first 2,500 'bodycams' would arrive at the PSP and GNR in November last year, but this did not happen.

The decree-law that regulates the use of portable cameras for individual use by police officers has already been published in the Official Gazette in January 2023 and the use of 'bodycams' has long been demanded by the police.

In the response sent to Lusa, the MAI also states that investment in the security forces "is a priority of this legislature".

The ministry also argues that new instruments, such as video surveillance systems, 'bodycams', drones and image recording systems by the security forces, are "fundamental tools" that must be relied on "to ensure control mechanisms to guarantee the security conditions of citizens and their property, but also as guarantors of the security and operational conditions of the security forces professionals themselves".

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