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Video surveillance laws to be amended to 'help fight crime'

cctvThe government is to change the archaic laws covering the use of video surveillance so that law enforcement can use equipment to fight crime and use recordings as evidence.

Isabel Oneto, Deputy Secretary of State and Home Affairs, announced today that "We are working on the amendment of the law of video surveillance, precisely in order to allow security forces and services to have access to video surveillance in a broader way and will change the law that regulates video surveillance to increase the access of security forces to this means of crime prevention.”

The secretary of state was attending a presentation of a video surveillance system set up in the municipality of Amadora where 103 CCTV cameras have been in operation since May 11th.

She explained that at the moment the security forces are hampered as the regulations currently in force carry ‘rights, freedoms and guarantees’ for citizens that are not helpful when fighting crime.

For Oneto, the legislative review should ensure that video surveillance systems have "a crime prevention function" while maintaining citizens' rights.

The forthcoming amendments will create a better balance between privacy and crime prevention, claims the State.

"We believe that our security forces cannot continue to work in the dark and therefore we need to open up the legislation a bit in order to ensure respect for fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees: we need to seek a balance in these matters."

The president of Amadora council, Carla Tavares, said the investment in the CCTV system somehow strengthened the city and gave the population a sense of security as well as being an important working tool for the Public Security Police working locally."

The council invested around €900,000 in a fibre-optic network and a further €1 million in the installation of 103 video surveillance cameras in several areas of the municipality with image recording but no sound capture.

 

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Comments  

+1 #3 dw 2017-05-18 00:41
Yes, let's scrap those citizen rights and freedoms as soon as possible. What could possibly go wrong?
+1 #2 Tom Hardcastle 2017-05-17 18:08
‘rights, freedoms and guarantees’ ... this is one of he more sinister consequences of Portugal's non-Revolution of 1974.

The theory that from henceforth no longer would unsubstantiated denunciations risk someone's else's life, livelihood or belongings. Yet resulting in an entirely opaque smokescreen behind which all the bad guys have since been operating with impunity. And will still continue to do so. Any changes to the Portuguese laws will just be minimal tinkering that leaves the bad guys running riot.

It is quite idiotic in Portugal, that with all the developments in technology to aid recording and photography, without the permission of the 'target' it is still a catch all threat of prosecution. Rigorously defended by the Portuguese judiciary (who will destroy any material recorded by ordinary citizens as done in the Freeport Case against the then PM Socrates) and the Portuguese Police yet in a developed country the first users of such material.

With the Schengen Zone, an open door to chaos that nowadays terrorists make full use of.
+2 #1 Peter Booker 2017-05-16 22:29
"our security forces cannot continue to work in the dark"… this is an unfortunate expression; when the lights go out, the Police must go home.

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