“The constant lack of agents in the Airport Security Division at an international airport such as Lisbon, the target of constant unforeseen events, is a serious problem. It becomes chaotic to manage problems such as alerts for emergency landings and disorders on board aircraft”, says a note from the Union Association of Police Professionals (ASPP/PSP).

The biggest union of the Public Security Police also advances that the agents deployed to support the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) in border control are unhappy and feel that “they are not protected by the hierarchy nor recognised by the SEF inspectors.

At the beginning of the month, the Minister of Internal Administration indicated that the 168 PSP agents who reinforced Portuguese airports during the summer months will continue to support SEF in controlling passengers until the end of the year.

According to ASPP, the police officers in SEF “are increasingly dissatisfied with doing that service” and “they consider themselves cheap labour”.

That PSP union emphasizes that the agents “are willing to move forward with protest actions if the Government does not look at PSP professionals, in the same way it looks at SEF inspectors”.