"Lisbon is a safe city, but we can't just look at the numbers at a glance. We have to break them down. Sexual assault increased by 17% and rape by 12%," he said.

The mayor was speaking at the Greater Lisbon Summit, hosted by SIC Notícias, where the topics of Housing, Security, and Transportation were discussed.

Stating that crime rates have decreased overall, Carlos Moedas (PSD) noted that "there are hotspots that are increasing," and gave the example of "rape increased by 68% in Martim Moniz and Arroios."

In contrast to this data, he said that the number of police officers has been decreasing, as "in 2010 there were 8,000 police officers in Lisbon, and today there are 6,700." "The Municipal Police had 600 members in 2018, and today it has 400, and many will retire," he added.

The mayor of Lisbon insisted on the need for the government to give the Municipal Police more powers because the officers are trained by the PSP, so they have specific skills.

In Almada, the first competition for the first 25 municipal police officers has only just been launched, in a project that Mayor Inês de Medeiros believes will "contribute to this sense of a local police force."

Also in Almada, overall crime rates have decreased, but "violence among young people and domestic violence among young people have increased significantly."

"And this violence cannot be combated with the police, but with education policies, improved public spaces, better schools, more sports, and solid, reliable, and consistent public policies," he argued.

Also in Sintra, violent crime has fallen, but domestic violence has increased, according to the mayor, who believes "one of the reasons for violence is poverty," noting that the municipality has some areas in this situation. Basílio Horta (PS) also criticized the various governments for never having made "serious investments in Sintra in 12 years," in what is the second-largest municipality in the country.

Stating that security in Oeiras has improved, the mayor said that he manages the municipality of over 100,000 inhabitants as "the safest in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area," with domestic violence being the crime that "has grown the most."

According to Isaltino Morais (IN-OV), the PSP police stations in Oeiras were all built by the City Council, and the police cars were also purchased by the municipality because "it cannot accept people not having a car" to get around when called.

In Loures, violent and serious crime has increased, with many robberies, and domestic violence "has increased significantly in the municipality," according to the mayor.

According to Ricardo Leão (PS), people "complain that more community policing is needed." According to the mayor, Loures has 40 Municipal Police officers and a recruitment process will be opened for 17 more. To serve 150,000 people, the PSP (Public Security Police) force in the municipality has an average of three vehicles available, which "is sad."

"It was important to resume local security contracts. They were taken away from us (...) it is very important to have a direct relationship between PSP officers and the people of the neighborhood," he said.

In Cascais, the vice-president, Nuno Piteira Lopes (PSD), said that the video surveillance system is being prepared, and the expectation is that 440 cameras will be installed in all parishes in the municipality.

Furthermore, he also argued that the Municipal Police "can and should have more powers" and criticized the fact that PSP officers are assigned to programs such as Safe Schools, the Senior Citizen Program, or responding to traffic accidents without injuries, considering that if they were freed from these tasks, more than 50 police officers would be on the streets.