Pedro Moura takes office as PSP director, pledging a police force for everyone
Superintendent-chief Pedro Moura took office as national director of the PSP in Lisbon on Tuesday, 13 October, promising a human police force. Negotiations with the unions on careers and supplements are still under way.
Handover at the Ministry of Internal Administration
Superintendent-chief Pedro Moura took command of the Public Security Police (PSP) on Tuesday, 13 October, at a ceremony in the Ministry of Internal Administration in Lisbon's Terreiro do Paço. The hall was full, and the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, presided over the event alongside interior minister Luís Neves. Defence minister Nuno Melo, justice minister Rita Alarcão Júdice and attorney general Amadeu Guerra sat in the front rows. The president of SIRESP was also present, having appeared that same day before a parliamentary inquiry into the rural fires affair. Moura opened his speech by thanking his predecessors and the government for their confidence, and he praised their legacy of dedication to the public good, resilience and honour.
A police force for everyone
Moura described the force he wants to lead as elite, modern and human, and he pledged absolute respect for human rights. Citing Pope Francis at World Youth Day, where the pope said he counted on 'everyone, everyone, everyone', Moura applied the same open message to the public. He said the PSP serves Portuguese residents as well as the growing number of foreigners who choose Portugal to visit, invest, work or live. He added that the PSP will keep guaranteeing that anyone, whatever their origin, feels safe on the streets.
The PSP is the police of everyone.
Five commitments, one of them to staff
In his speech Moura set out five fundamental strategic commitments to guide his mandate. The first concerns officers and staff, with continuous training, attention to their health and wellbeing, and an attractive career able to recruit and keep the best talent. He also promised more social support, better working conditions and a leadership culture based on integrity and merit, along with joint work with the PSP unions. The second commitment is to make the PSP an intelligent organisation through simpler procedures, fewer bureaucratic hurdles and digitalisation. The third involves reviewing the force's territorial and functional setup so resources can be moved to where they are most needed, while the fourth restates the goal of a police of everyone. The published reports cover four of the five commitments, so the fifth is not described here. Moura put the first commitment in his own words.
My first commitment is to the men and women of the PSP.
Union talks and the 2024 agreement
Interior minister Luís Neves told the audience that officers on the streets, who patrol, respond to incidents and face risk, would receive particular attention in the ongoing talks on career improvements. The ministry is negotiating with the police unions on changes to the professional statute, careers and supplements. Neves said the government keeps the commitments in its programme and in the 2024 agreement, while admitting that not every result has been reached yet. The Associação Sindical dos Profissionais da Polícia (ASPP/PSP) accuses the government of not honouring the 2024 agreement and has held protests in several cities. The union has called a rally in Faro for Wednesday, 14 October.
Civilian staff and a structural reform
Neves argued that thousands of officers with police training are doing administrative jobs that civilian workers could handle. The government plans a new organisational model that brings in more civilian staff and gradually frees officers for operational duties. He called this a structural reform and said it could draw on the wider public administration reform to design incentives that attract civilian employees to the security forces. He added that internal security is not a space for asserting corporate interests but a shared system of responsibilities. Neves said the change depends on the new national leadership and the supervising ministry.
This is a change that will need the commitment of the new national leadership and the support of the supervising ministry.
The negotiations with the unions continue in parallel with the reform.