Promising Practice

Expanding reporting mechanisms

Ampliação dos meios de denúncia
Expanding reporting mechanisms and providing alternative channels with the aim of encouraging reporting and overcoming barriers that victims and witnesses may face in reporting through regular channels. The alternative methods for reporting include anonymous reporting and reporting through the internet, for example using an online form or through social networks such as Twitter.
Pajjiż
Portugal
Type
Encourage reporting
Category
Alternative reporting options

Organisation

Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público) and criminal police bodies: Criminal Police (Polícia Judiciária), National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana) and Public Security Police (Polícia de Segurança Pública).

Start and end date

Not applicable.

Scope

National.

Target group(s)

The general public.

Funding

Not applicable.

Objectives

Facilitate and encourage the reporting of crimes.

Outputs

Description

The creation of different mechanisms for victims to report crimes makes the reporting process easier.

Sometimes reporting in person can be intimidating (for different reasons) for the victim, so removing this barrier by creating different channels for reporting is beneficial. Such channels include the internet, for example an online form, and social networks such as Twitter.

Moreover, reporting of hate crime is encouraged and facilitated. See https://www.policiajudiciaria.pt/crimes-de-odio-denuncie.

Online reporting is available only for certain crimes, as provided by Decree No. 1593/2007 of 17 December, such as simple physical assault, domestic violence, ill treatment, trafficking, pimping, theft, robbery, damage, fraud (including at work), extortion, damage or theft of documents and technical notations, damage to nature, use of someone else’s identification or travel documents, pollution, aiding illegal immigration, illegal labour recruitment and marriage of convenience.

Critical success factors

Digitalisation and online pages of the relevant entities.

Actors involved in the design and implementation of the practice

Criminal police bodies and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Monitoring and evaluation

Not applicable.

Publicly available contact details

Criminal Police
Telephone: +351 211 967 000

National Republican Guard
Telephone: +351 21 321 7000

Public Prosecutor’s Office
Telephone: +351 21 392 19 00
Email: correiopgr@pgr.pt