“This is a system that will monitor the areas with the highest traffic flow and concentration of people, namely the so-called “Strip”, in order to dissuade and combat crime,” said the mayor of Albufeira, José Carlos Roll.

According to José Carlos Rolo, the video monitoring, which came into operation on December 30, 2024, “aims to help security authorities in preventing and fighting crime”, in a city that has been identified as having one of the highest crime rates per capita of the country.

The mayor assured, however, that Albufeira “is a safe municipality” and contested the analysis of the numbers made by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), “when presenting true numbers, in global terms, but which should not be calculated by the 44 thousand inhabitants of the municipality”.

“Albufeira, being one of the largest tourist municipalities in the country, has around 500,000 people during the summer and these people do not appear in the statistics”, he lamented.

Although refuting “the idea that the city is unsafe as has been reported”, the mayor considered that video monitoring “will give a greater perception of security to residents and tourists”.

The cameras are installed in areas previously selected jointly by the GNR and the local authority, considered strategic locations and "of greatest concern", allowing real-time monitoring of nightlife areas, the historic centre and access to the city.

“These are areas with a history of problems and that deserve greater attention,” said the commander of the GNR detachment in Albufeira, Marco Henriques.

According to Marco Henriques, the system “is not intended to replace the police”, but is “a very important tool to support and complement the prevention and investigation work of the various criminal police bodies”.

Video surveillance represented an investment of around 900 thousand euros, and is a system equipped with modern technology, which includes analytical and search tools, definition of alerts and capture of images in all directions, with great range and resolution.

“The entire operation is guaranteed by the GNR and only a few officers with specific training will have access to the system installed in two viewing rooms, one in Albufeira and the other at the Territorial Command in Faro”, he highlighted.

Marco Henriques also mentioned that crime in Albufeira “has decreased over time, “despite some statistics being based only on the number of inhabitants, which distorts the data”.

“We believe that with new technology we can do more to prevent and investigate crimes with greater reliability,” he highlighted.

The commander of the GNR detachment in Albufeira also said that “in a second phase, the monitoring area can be expanded to other areas of the municipality”.