The Safe Residence Programme was created in 2010 for the Loulé area after a wave of violent robberies affected owners of many high value properties.
The scheme now is being rolled out across the region and each registered resident will have their properties geo-referenced and numbered to enable the security forces to respond quickly without getting confused as to which house has been targeted.
In a statement released today, the territorial command of the GNR based in Faro reported that most of the households registered in the programme are in Loulé (2,741), but that last year a further 450 Loulé homeowners joined the scheme which now covers 5,000 Algarve properties.
This network of owners is useful in gathering information about the movement of suspects and the GNR provide residents with a named GNR contact from the specialist team.
The Safe Residences GNR team members all have a good knowledge of the region and of foreign languages. They also will provide security advice and have information to hand out in English and Portuguese.
The programme started in Loulé but now is being rolled out to cover the Algarve region with the mission to ensure the safety of all residences and residents in isolated places, through a form of dynamic policing which includes increased patrols and frequent visits to the properties in the scheme.
The owners of isolated residences in the Algarve who want to join the programme can ask at their local GNR station where they can get further information and clarification.
The wave of robberies at detached villas in the Algarve led also to the creation of Safe Communities Algarve, created by a former policeman and consultant to Interpol, in order to strengthen the relationship between the foreign community residing in the Algarve and the police so as to combat crime.
See also:
Safe Communities Algarve
http://www.safecommunitiesalgarve.com/how-we-help-you/safe-residence-programme/
