Luís Neves, appointed this Saturday, February 21st, Minister of Internal Administrationwarned about the lack of attractiveness of a police careerin a Rádio Renascença podcast recorded whilst director of the Judiciary Police, and considered that low salaries at the PSP are “not acceptable”.
“It is not acceptable for an element to come in as a PSP agent, who comes from the interior of the country, where I am from, I am also from Beira, I am from Beira Baixa, who comes, for example, from my hometown, he has to be placed in Lisbon, in which half of your salary goes to pay for a house. This is not possible”, said Luís Neves on the podcast “Direito à Justiça”, on Rádio Renascença with the Bar Association, which will be broadcast in March.
The President of the Republic accepted the Prime Minister’s proposal to appoint Luís Neves as Minister of Internal Administration, replacing Maria Lúcia Amaral, who resigned following a wave of criticism of the way he acted and managed the response to the Kristin depression that hit the country at the end of January.
The future minister highlighted that being a police officer is “a noble mission”considering that “it is not possible to continue to have such low salaries because it is not attractive”.
“And this brings other problems even in the performance of the role. It brings other problems of morale, of collective self-esteem, of being able to recruit good people, people who are committed to the profession”, he highlighted, warning of the risk of low salaries removing good personnel from the force.
In 2023, Luís Neves achieved an increase of around 600 euros in the risk allowance for PJ inspectors, which led to a challenge from PSP and GNR police officers who demanded negotiations from the Government for equal treatment, which have not yet materialized.
In the ‘podcast’, Luís Neves highlighted that he has always defended better salaries for police officers, particularly before and after the granting of the additional
“Our mission is often based on the work that other forces [GNR e PSP] do in their daily lives. It is from this mix that we are often able to respond to a certain type of crime. Therefore, as a citizen, as a police leader and as my essence is to be a police officer, I will always say that, at the base, the forces must have better conditions”, he highlighted.
Luís Neves, director of the PJ for eight years and serving this criminal investigation police for around three decades, takes office as Minister of Internal Administration next Monday (23) at 10 am at Palácio de Belém, in Lisbon.
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