The increase in crimes such as drug trafficking, driving under the influence or illegal driving, disobedience and pickpocketing in greater Lisbon is mainly explained by the increased police presence on the streets, according to the PSP. In an interview with the Lus news agency, the commander of the Lisbon Metropolitan Command (Cometlis), Chief Superintendent Luís Elias, stated that police proactivity and the increase in the number of arrests contributed to the 2.9% rise in overall crime in the Cometlis area in the first eight months of the year. By the end of August, the PSP had made 500 more arrests compared to the same period of the previous year.
Luís Elias explained that crimes such as drug trafficking, resistance and coercion against public officials, illegal driving, drunk driving and disobedience are police proactivity crimes that increased and influenced the overall statistics. However, violent and serious crime fell by 0.4%, mainly related to the decrease in street robberies and snatch thefts, which are crimes with a great impact on the population's sense of security. In the opposite direction, extortion and kidnappings increased.
Pickpocketing, which received special attention from the PSP, is currently associated with transnational and itinerant crime, with international groups that travel to Portugal for days or weeks to commit these crimes. Luís Elias stated that these groups, which include pickpockets with criminal records in other countries, circulate through various European cities and are associated with the growth of tourism, which attracts criminal phenomena to locations with high concentrations of people.
The commander of Cometlis also expressed concern about organized robberies and thefts by international groups, specifically referring to the "rolex gang," a criminal group from South America responsible for violent robberies of drivers of high-end vehicles. This case is being handled by the Judicial Police, but Luís Elias warned of the risk of national groups attempting to imitate this mode of operation. Cometlis has jurisdiction over nine municipalities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area: Amadora, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Odivelas, Oeiras, Sintra, Vila Franca de Xira and Torres Vedras.
