The President of the Government of the Azores stressed on Wednesday afternoon that “we live in a peaceful region,” despite some problems which are common to all other regions of the world; nonetheless the archipelago is “a place where safety is still of one of main features that describes how we live.”

Hence, Carlos César concluded a brief reference to the latest statistics on the number of crimes in Portugal and particularly, in the Azores. According to the data available, criminality registered an increase of three percent in the Region, which is substantially lower than the ten percent registered across the country.

With regard to some types of crime, it is important to mention that violent crimes are rare in the Azores, registering a ratio of less than one serious crime per thousand inhabitants, while other regions of Mainland Portugal such as Porto, Faro or Setúbal, have registered a ratio of four violent crimes per thousand habitants.

The President of the Government spoke at the end of a hearing to exchange compliments that he granted to the Attorney General of the Republic, Pinto Monteiro, who praised the measures implemented by the Azorean Government to combat domestic violence or against the elderly. During the audience, Carlos César stated that these statistics demonstrate that the actual situation of the Azores does not correspond to the image portrayed of the Region with regard to some crimes.