The public petition which asks for a surveillance system in Évora’s historic centre is promoted by the Association of Residents and Friends of the Historic Centre of Évora (AMACHE), and it aims to control the feeling of insecurity manifested by the population.

The head of the Association of Residents and Friends of the Historic Centre of Évora (AMACHE), Isabel Saianda, told Lusa that video surveillance "is the only solution to reverse the feeling of insecurity and this is in the hands of the local authority." The AMACHE president explained that the organization plans to collect a further 2,000 signatures, which means half of the 4,000 residents of the historic centre, before delivering the petition to the municipal council. As she added, “Our purpose is quality of life in the historic centre and one of the aspects of quality of life is safety”.


Isabel Saianda emphasized that the government "does not place more police" in Évora and that the municipality has responded by saying that "the city is safe," alluding to reports of assaults, robberies, and vandalism that have allegedly happened in the city. However, in response, Carlos Pinto de Sá has argued that prior to a local authority decision, video surveillance's cost and benefits must be "demonstrated”, adding that “as an alternative to video surveillance, I am much more a fan of proximity policing. Having officers patrolling the streets seems much more effective to me”.


The mayor of Évora, Carlos Pinto de Sá, was contacted by Lusa and disclosed that the municipality received the video surveillance research it had sought from the PSP on Tuesday, which will now be reviewed. “It is a study that only points out the areas of the city that the Police consider likely to have video surveillance” and does not present other data, such as, for example, the costs associated with installation and operation, he highlighted.

According to the study, the PSP has defended that “there is no need to have areas outside the historic centre” with video surveillance and even in the city centre the PSP does not believe in the need to implement cameras everywhere but “only in some areas”.