All districts “are more violent”
Portalegre, Évora and Santarém are the districts where crimes have grown most in the last year.
Vila Real and Bragança are the areas where it has grown least.
Only one region, the Azores, has shown a reduction in the number of crimes registered.
These are the ‘headline’ results from 2022’s RASI (annual homeland security report), which goes on to show that domestic violence “dominates the map of criminality”, albeit it is no longer among the ‘top three most committed crimes’ in the Algarve and Bragança as it was in 2021.
As for boroughs, the five worst are Lisbon (32,463 crimes), Porto (13,417), Sintra (10,998), Vila Nova de Gaia (8,058) and Almada (6,828). And generally it is the capitals of districts that show the highest number of crimes – exceptions being Faro, in the Algarve, where more crimes are registered in Loulé and Albufeira; Santa Maria da Feira (more crimes registered than in Aveiro), Ponte de Sor (more crimes than in Portalegre) and Almada (more crimes than Setúbal).
‘Most registered crimes’ – beyond domestic violence, tend to involve ‘drink driving’ and ‘offenses to physical integrity’.
Faro district, including all 16 municipalities of the Algarve, saw a 15% increase in crime last year (a total of 23,906 incidents), with offenses to physical integrity being the No 1 crime (1,668 incidents), followed by drink driving (1,564) and criminal damage (1,505).
In an editorial on RASI 2022, Paulo João Santos executive director of Correio da Manhã explains that per day an average of 116 crimes are called in to authorities. And he cites particularly the case of a known child rapist who raped another two children while on parole. As he stresses, “how is it possible that the law allows someone like this to be given back his freedom?”
Portugal’s lawmakers need to act, says Santos, before the country careers further down the path of insecurity.
Crimes by district in 2022
Viana do Castelo – 7,065 crimes (+12.3%) of which top 3 were:
Drink driving 593
Arson (starting forest fires) 580
Domestic violence 564
Braga – 19, 092 (+3.7%)
Domestic violence 1,782
Offenses to physical integrity 1,335
Theft from motor vehicles 1,156
Porto – 51,398 (+8.1%)
Theft from motor vehicles 6,112
Domestic violence 3,830
Offenses to physical integrity 3,615
Aveiro – 19,229 (+8.2%)
Drink driving 2,286
Domestic violence 1,742
Offenses to physical integrity 1,354
Coimbra – 10,267 (+15.6%)
Domestic violence 903
Drink driving 852
Offenses to physical integrity 703
Leiria – 12,345 (+15.6%)
Drink driving 1,022
Domestic violence 1,006
Thefts 847
Lisbon – 82,868 (+14.8%)
IT fraud 7,131
Domestic violence 6,372
Thefts from motor vehicles 5,813
Setúbal – 31,270 (+9%)
Domestic violence 2,421
Thefts from motor vehicles 2,191
IT fraud 1,969
Vila Real – 4,812 (+6.4%)
Arson (forest fire) 756
Domestic violence 422
Offenses to physical integrity 344
Faro – 23,906 (+15%)
Offenses to physical integrity 1,668
Drink driving 1,564
Criminal damage 1,505
Bragança – 3,351 (+6.7%)
Criminal damage 308
Drink driving 297
Offenses to physical integrity 249
Viseu – 8,879 (+15%)
Drink driving 1,031
Domestic violence 868
Offenses to physical integrity 638
Guarda – 4,106 (+18.6%)
Drink driving 479
Domestic violence 382
Criminal damage 355
Castelo Branco – 6,490 (+19.9%)
Criminal damage 604
Drink driving 600
Domestic violence 527
Portalegre – 3962 (+29.6%)
Drink driving 413
Domestic violence 369
IT/ telecoms fraud 329
Santarém – 13,730 (+23.2%)
Drink driving 1017
Domestic violence 911
Offenses to physical integrity 836
Évora – 4573 (+27.2%)
Drink driving 441
Domestic violence 414
Offenses to physical integrity 351
Madeira – 6,810 (+22.4%)
Drink driving 1,048
Domestic violence 671
Offenses to physical integrity 572
Azores – 9,739 (-2.6%)
Offenses to physical integrity 999
Domestic violence 856
Threats and coercion 784
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