Portugese Policia on patrol in Lincolnshire

National World

Portugese Policia have been on patrol with  Lincolnshire Police exchanging ideas on keeping communities safe.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Chris Morgan and I'm the Secretary of the Lincolnshire Branch of the International

00:07Police Association. The International Police Association was first formed in Stegness and

00:11that's one of the reasons that we're here today. It was formed in 1950 by a Lincolnshire

00:15police officer called Arthur True and it's now in 64 different countries with nearly

00:20400,000 members. So we've got some Portuguese colleagues over today, for the whole week

00:26in fact, and they're going out on patrol with officers throughout Lincolnshire and

00:30today they're looking at Stegness to try and compare the type of problems that we have

00:36here in Stegness with the influx of tourists in the summer, the same as the Portuguese

00:41and the influx that they have in the Albufeira area, which is where most of these officers

00:46are from.

00:47As I say, it is an exchange of information and we will be following you around during

00:52the day and finding out what you've learned from each other.

00:57Yeah, it's been a big learning exercise already from both sides and the Portuguese guys are

01:03really impressed with the actual technology side of things that we've got in Lincolnshire.

01:07Things like the ANPR, the Automatic Number Plate Recognition and the intelligence side

01:12of things. So they're learning a lot and I'm expecting that when we go back, or not me

01:19personally, when the police officers go back to Portugal, they will learn similar on how

01:25the Portuguese work.

01:31So we're hosting four Portuguese officers from the Algarve and they've come over to

01:35Lincolnshire. They're living with us in our houses and we're taking them to work.

01:39So yesterday they went over to Lincoln, so they went on a drugs warrant in the morning

01:44to see how we did all that and then they went out on the response cars for a bit for

01:48a couple of hours and they went to a few incidents and saw how we deal with things without guns

01:53because they all carry guns and the conflict skills we use to de-escalate situations.

02:00We've had a historic tour of the Bailgate, so we looked around all the old buildings

02:05and that was really fascinating. They loved the cathedral and the history surrounding

02:09that and then we did a little bit of the Lincoln Castle, but the only problem we've

02:14had is the weather. So they've come from 27 degrees in the blazing sunshine and they've

02:19come to 12 degrees of torrential rain.

02:21It has been a bit bracing out there. We've been having a tour around Skegness this morning

02:27and they have discovered donuts. So they're tucking into some nice warm donuts now, which

02:33they were all ready for. But what else is planned for them?

02:38So today they're having a lot of talks this afternoon and tomorrow, some in Boston in

02:44relation to the neighbourhood policing models that we're trialling at the minute. We're

02:49approaching with new tactics the neighbourhood policing problems called hotspot policing

02:53where the government have given us a pot of money to make sure we've got police back on

02:59the streets walking around and there's some how we use technology to plan their routes

03:04and go to the high crime areas. So they're going to learn all about that later on today

03:09and tomorrow.

03:10And although the focus has been on the coast, these matters involve the whole of the county

03:17don't they?

03:18Yeah they do. They're not localised issues. We're one county and we all work together

03:22to tackle those issues. We couldn't not go to Boston because we've had such a strong

03:28Portuguese community there. It's good to see some Portuguese officers and see the fellow

03:33country people and the businesses and the links they've established and if there's any

03:37lessons we can learn in relation to how we police that community.

03:41Because it is an exchange isn't it? So have you learnt anything from your Portuguese

03:48counterparts?

03:49Oh I've learnt a lot yeah. I think I get the best deal because they come to Boston and

03:52Skegness and I go to the Algarve next year in the summer. So yeah we're learning a lot

03:57and they're taking a lot of notes back to their commanders. They're very impressed by

04:01some of the kit we've got, the technology we use and I'm learning a lot about their

04:06laws and what's really interesting is though is as a criminal justice system they have

04:12the same frustrations we do. It's not just in the UK that the courts are backlinked etc

04:18and they've got high case loads so it's quite interesting to see how they deal with that

04:22and what lessons we can learn in relation to that.

04:28So hello, I'm Elder Lopes, I'm 48 years old and I'm a police officer in Portugal. I've

04:37been there for, I've been a police officer for 25 years. I've lived in Faro for roughly

04:4316 and I've been, I patrolled Lisbon, I've been to Lisbon airport and I currently work

04:52in Faro as a logistics operator between my commander and the patrol cars so that's basically

05:00my function over there.

05:02Now you're halfway through your visit to Lincolnshire to see how Lincolnshire police operate. What

05:11would you say the biggest differences are between policing in Lincolnshire and in Portugal?

05:20I believe the main differences between us, between Portugal operatives and Lincolnshire

05:28operatives, I believe UK operatives, are mainly equipment wise because the human resources,

05:36the heart is where it's supposed to be so everyone works with caring to the public and

05:44I believe that here in Skegness you have the best patrol officers that you would have

05:51to be because I've been with them, I've been patrolling with them and they are wonderful.

05:56They are certainly passionate. Now it has been noticed that in Portugal your officers

06:02do carry firearms. Is that something you would recommend to UK officers?

06:09I believe that we as police officers adapt to what the citizens want. If the citizens

06:20wanted a police with firearms they would have to be explicit. Our police functions with

06:27firearms but we believe that firearms doesn't solve everything. Besides a firearm is irreversible.

06:35If I shoot someone it would be irreversible. So I believe that the proximity with citizens

06:43is always better than having more gunfire, more violence promoted.

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