The PSP and GNR associations have reacted to the letter and have classified the statements by the president of the SEF inspectors union as a demonstration of “desperation”.

Speaking to Lusa, the president of the Guarda Professionals Association (APG/GNR), César Nogueira, said that these statements are “unfortunate on the part of the SEF union when trying to convey the idea that racism and xenophobia exist in the GNR”.

Desperation

César Nogueira maintained that they demonstrate “a haste on the part of the president of the SEF union” and “denote a certain desperation in playing a final card to avoid the end of SEF”.

In the open letter, published in Diário de Notícias, Acácio Pereira addresses the issue of the Vila Nova de Milfontes territorial post, stating that “there are members of these forces serving sentences of effective and preventive detention for practices of torture”.

The president of the APG/GNR considered that racism and xenophobia “are not a structural issue” in the GNR, but admitted to “isolated cases”.

Isolated cases

“The example he gave of Vila Nova de Milfontes was an isolated case, it was detected, there is a process in court and suspensions of service. Whenever there are situations like this, the GNR has acted very well”, he said, stressing that Acácio Pereira “should not attack partner structures”.

The president of the Association of Police Professionals (ASPP/PSP), Paulo Santos, told Lusa that the statement by the president of the SCIF/SEF involves “a state of despair” and “does not correspond to the reality of the PSP”.

Paulo Santos added that since many of the SEF professionals will be integrated into the PSP, the SCIF/SEF statements “in no way helped the incorporation of SEF elements into the Public Security Police”.

The extinction of SEF has once again been postponed until the creation of the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA).