Polícia de Segurança Pública


The Polícia de Segurança Pública is the national civil preventive police force of Portugal. Part of the Portuguese security forces, the mission of the PSP is to defend Republican democracy, safeguarding internal security and the rights of its citizens. Despite many other functions, the force is generally known for policing urban areas with uniformed police officers, while rural areas are normally policed by National Republican Guard, a gendarmerie force. PSP is focused in the preventive policing, only investigating minor crimes. Investigation of serious crimes falls under the Judicial Police responsibility, which is a separate agency.

History

Like most of Europe, until the Middle Ages the defense of public order was the responsible of local communities, under the authority of feudal lords and courts.
In Portugal, there are few references to the administration of justice until the second half of the 15th century. With the reign of King Afonso V came the first ordinances and penal codes, known as the Ordenações Afonsinas. These ordinances were reissued during the reign of King John I in 1514, after various changes under Manuel I. Some of the early judicial measures came from the early nobles. Afonso Henriques ordered the incarceration of women who lived with elements of the clergy, while in the era of Afonso II, under the influence of Visigothic codes and Roman law, resulted in the appearance of the first general laws. Similarly, Afonso III punished anyone who assaulted and robbed the home of another. King Pedro I, the Just, decreed that anyone who falsified coins, gold or silver objects would have their hands and feet amputated.
However, criminals were provided shelters by which to flee justice: the churches, monasteries and "privileged" lands. These privileged lands became areas of thieves and criminals, which resulted in King John extinguishing these areas. This was also something that King Fernando did with bairros, and only churches and convents became sanctuaries.
The first corps of police agents, the Quadrilheiros, was created by Fernando I, on 12 September 1383, consisting of 20 members, who were recruited by force from the strongest physical men, to serve Lisbon. These men were subject to the town council for three years, and required to swear fealty and carry a weapon, which they would display at their homes, representing a symbol of their authority to arrest and direct criminals to the Corregedores. Since these men never received payment for their services, and since these activities were dangerous, most chose to escape the responsibility. For most, these services were intolerable, with little prestige, at various times resulting in bruises and wounds in the execution of their tasks. Owing to this, by 1418, these constables were not required to circle the town. Later, Afonso V provided the Quadrilheiros, on 10 June 1460, with several social and economic privileges. However, these would disappear over time.
Even as Afonso V put into action other laws, regulations, advisories and ordinances, many were ineffective. King Sebastian promulgated laws on 31 January 1559, 17 January 1570, 12 July and 13 August 1571, to reinforce the laws of Fernando I, Edward and Afonso V. In order to compensate the diminishing benefits of their service, the Quadrilheiros were exempt from paying taxes or military service. Sebastian also ordered that Lisbon be divided into barrios, and that each should be administered by an official of justice, with discretionary powers. On 12 March 1603, King Philip II ordered new regulations for the Quadrilheiros in order to reinforce their authority. The Lisbon council, on 30 January 1617, determined that Quadrilheiros should have a label over their doors to identify them, and that the King should confer on them special privileges, such as sitting at the council table. King John IV of Portugal provided a new charter, and a decree on 29 November 1644, forced them to serve the public, working in the day and evenings. By the first half of the 18th century, little had improved. There continued to be a lack of policing, resulting in leis in 1701, 1702 and 1714. As new circuits were created to blanket the city, many of the criminals were aware that the laws transformed the situation into forgettable enclaves. The Quadrilheiros continued to be a poor class, due to their limitations, resulting in poor public order.
After the 1755 Lisbon earthquake new laws and resolutions were established to maintain public order and reduce anarchy. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquess of Pombal, found it necessary to create an organism to centralize all laws. By law, on 25 June 1760, he created the Intendência da Polícia da Corte e do Reino, and the position of Intendente-Geral da Polícia da Corte e do Reino, with unlimited jurisdiction. The first Quartermaster-General was Inácio Ferreira Souto, at the same time that the term polícia was commonly used, and the Quadrilheiros were relegated to the evenings. However, this foundation did little resolve criminal issues, and locks on doors, grades on windows and blunderbusses beside the bed continued to be important. The Intendente-Geral was preoccupied with pursuing those who spoke badly of the King, Government or Pombal himself.
Between 1760 and 1780, chaos persisted. By decree, on 18 January 1780, Queen Maria I of Portugal named the old Criminal Judge for the Bairro do Castelo de S. Jorge, Diogo Inácio de Pina Manique, Intendente-Geral. Instructed in laws at the University of Coimbra, he became a powerful chief: he began by expunging the police services of criminal elements, and took advantage of all laws to arrest all criminals or suspects in the Alfama, Mouraria, Bairro Alto and Madragoa, reorganizing the services and bringing a level of respectability to the department.
Around the same time, the Guarda Real de Polcia was founded on 25 December 1801, a militarized corps of cavalry. While correctional "houses" were established, the Polícia Sanitária was established to curb prostitution. The Casa Pia de Lisboa was founded to collect abandoned children. As the Police Royal Guard was overwhelmed with customs supervision, the Guarda das Barreiras was created, later to be replaced by the Guarda das Alfândegas. In 1808 the General Loison, at the behest of the Quartermaster-General of the Royal Guard Police, established a Polícia Secreta. In 1823, the Liberal government established the Guarda Nacional and on 23 June 1824, a new secret police was reestablished, the Polícia Preventiva. On 21 August 1826 the Guarda Real de Polícia was discontinued.
On 8 November 1833, the position of Intendente-Geral was discontinued with José António Maria de Sousa e Azevedo. All the services of the police, from this period, were transferred to the prefects, of which the Prefect of the Province of Estremadura, Bento Pereira do Carmo, stands out. The police prerogatives of this position remained temporary and territorial, influenced by prefects, general administrators and later civil governors. On 18 April 1835, the kingdom was divided into 17 administrative districts, with a civil governor for each district, and divided into municipalities, civil parishes and ecclesiastical parishes. The civil governors were responsible for public security.
During a period of political confusio caused by the Liberal Wars, the Guarda Real de Polícia was substituted by the Guarda Municipal, currently represented by the GNR, then created by Pereira do Carmo. In this entanglement of police institutions, many times contradictory, the Guarda Nacional was dissolved in 1846. Yet, the inconsistency of public security resulted in the 22 February 1838 law, that created a corps to maintain public security in each of the administrative districts of the country. Until this period, the laws, decrees and dispatches that were published provided better results in thefts and murders. The guards and judges, however, felt they were betrayed by threats and reprisals, which resulted in a demoralization of the profession. In order to remedy this situation, King Luis ordered the publication of a law that founded a corps of civil police. With the formation of the Corpo de Polícia Civil, the foundations were laid for creation of the Public Security Police.

Roles and responsibilities

The PSP has the following police roles and responsibilities:
The Public Security Police is headed by a National Director, who is under the dependency of the Minister of Internal Administration. Its internal organization includes the following components:
  1. National Director
  2. Inspector General
  3. Deputy National Director for operations and security
  4. Deputy National Director for human resources
  5. Deputy National Director for logistics and finance
  1. Higher Institute of Police Science and Internal Security - university level police officer academy
  2. Practical School of Police - constable training school
  1. Intervention Corps - riot sub-unit
  2. Personal Security Corps - bodyguard sub-unit
  3. Special Operations Group - special operations and anti-terrorist sub-unit
  4. Centre for Inactivation of Explosives and Underground Security - bomb disposal and underground security sub-unit
  5. Canine Technical Operational Group - police dog sub-unit
  1. Metropolitan commands : Lisbon and Porto
  2. Regional commands : Azores and Madeira
  3. District commands : Faro, Beja, Évora, Portalegre, Setúbal, Santarém, Leiria, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Aveiro, Viseu, Guarda, Braga, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Bragança.
The regional and district commands have the territorial jurisdiction over, respectively, the corresponding autonomous regions and districts. Despite their designations, the territorial jurisdictions of the metropolitan commands are not the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto but are instead the districts of Lisbon and Porto.
The squad is the traditional basic police sub-unit of the PSP, each being usually headed by a Sub-Commissioner. Most of the squads are responsible for the generic territorial preventive policing of a given area of responsibility, which can be a neighborhood of a large city or an entire small city. Each of these squads occupy a police station and because of that, by metonymy, the police stations are usually referred to as esquadras in Portugal. Besides the previous, there are also specialized squads.
The minor territorial commands are directly sub-divided in squads. They usually include two or more territorial generic squads, a transit squad, a criminal investigation squad and an intervention and inspection squad.
In the major territorial commands there is however an intermediate level of sub-unit between them and the squad, this being the division. These commands are thus organized in two or more divisions, each of which includes several squads. The divisions can be generic or specialized.
The municipal police of Lisbon and Porto are also manned by PSP members, who retain all their police powers. However, they are not under the operational command of the PSP, but are instead under the direct control of the municipal governments of Lisbon and Porto. These two police forces are thus different from the rest of the municipal police forces of the country, which are made of municipal employees who have very limited police powers.

Personnel

As of 2019, the entry level salary for a police officer in the PSP is 789 euros a month.
PSP police personnel is divided into three categories: officers, chiefs and agents. The access to the category of agent requires the conclusion of a technical course in the Practical School of Police at Torres Novas. The access to the category of chief is made through the promotion from the category of agent, after the conclusion of a specific course also at the EPP. The access to the officer category requires the previous graduation in the Higher Institute of Police Sciences and Internal Security, a university-level police academy.
The various categories, ranks, insignia and respective main functions are:

Models

Since 2004, the Skoda Octavia has been the principal model of patrol car used by the Public Security Police. However, a number of other models are also in service, including Nissan Leaf, Renault Megane and Toyota Avensis. A single apprehended Audi R8 is used as a special pursuit car. Older models of patrol cars are also still in service, like Volkswagen Polo saloon, Mitsubishi Carisma and Fiat Tempra.
Ground speed radar equipped Volkswagen Sharan minivans are used for traffic enforcement, while some Toyota Hilux pickup trucks and Land Rover jeeps are used for patrolling non urban and mountainous areas.
A number vans are also in service, including newer Mercedes-Benz Metris and Sprinter and older Volkswagen Transporter, Iveco and Ford Transit.
The Special Police Unit uses a number of special vehicles, including Iveco water cannons and Cougar armored vehicles.

Vehicle appearance

PSP vehicles have some lack of uniform appearance due to the successive introduction of new liveries which however are usually only applied to new vehicles, with the existing ones keeping the original old ones.
The most recent livery for the PSP vehicles was introduced in 2014. The basic version of this livery consists in a white body with diagonal blue stripes, the wording "POLÍCIA" in blue san serif lettering in the sides, rear and bonnet and a logo with the national colors on the front side panels. For the traffic patrol vehicles there is a variant, which intermediates red stripes with the blue ones and has the wording "TRÂNSITO" on the rear side panels. Another variant of the livery is its negative version to be applied in vans and special vehicles. The three variants have been applied to most of the vehicles acquired after 2014. However, other vehicles carry older or not standard liveries, namely the 2004 livery, the 1991 livery, the 1979 livery, the all blue body and several special police programs liveries.
A restored Volkswagen Beetle historical patrol car - kept for use in ceremonies and exhibitions - is anachronistically painted with the 1979-1991 livery, instead of the original livery used by the PSP in the 1960s and 1970s, which consisted in a blue body and grey mudguards, with the word "POLÍCIA" on the doors.

PSP vehicles

Equipment

; Handguns
; Shotguns
; Submachineguns
; Rifles