According to the commander-general of the Angolan National Police (PNA), Paulo de Almeida, the shortage of personnel in the country, with around 30 million people, is a fact and Angola has to reach around 200 thousand troops in 2025.
"Otherwise, we will not meet the demand for police coverage even with the means we have at our disposal," Paulo de Almeida said this Thursday, during a meeting with journalists, in Luanda.
Angola, with 18 provinces, currently has close to 100,000 troops, "of which 70,000 are operational, in a ratio of one policeman to 2000 people that is difficult to control".
"Of course, we have many fields and areas without coverage due to lack of personnel, and today policing is also carried out with technique and technology, but given our scarce or almost non-existent resources, we have been subject to physical policing," he stressed.
For the general commander of the police, physical policing "does not and cannot be total or complete", noting that "society often complains about the absence of the police".
"It's almost difficult to act, but I glorify these comrades of ours who have made a titanic effort to be able to guarantee a certain stability and order," he pointed out.
Public security, the technical and human conditions of the Angolan police, the posture of the troops during demonstrations and their relationship with journalists were some of the themes addressed at this meeting.
The general commander of the PNA also lamented the "scarce technical, technological and financial resources" made available to the personnel he directs, referring that the performance of the corporation "is not easy".
"We have an arduous task, this is a thorny mission, not always pleasant, because it sometimes restricts citizens' rights and freedoms and not everyone likes their constitutionally enshrined freedoms to be cut," he said.
"And sometimes we also have to impose ourselves so that there is order and discipline and, in this act, sometimes it may not be pleasant for the recipients and on our part there may also be some excesses", he admitted.
Paulo de Almeida recalled that the police corporation is made up of various social strata, "among the peasants, workers, intellectuals and others", and where the "disciplined and those who only joined to have their first job, and not he is often convinced of the mission he will assume, or also those who, due to the current situation, look to the police for a solution to their way of life".
The current stratification of the police, in the opinion of Paulo de Almeida, "also makes it difficult for the lineage of what is intended to be the professional deontology of the troops".
To train a police officer, he noted, "it takes at least a year", but "unfortunately, because of the need for police coverage in Angola, the general command is forced to reduce this training to 65 days".
"And many times this policeman does not come out with the doctrine internalized, he learns in the course of his work, but it is not the same as what we learn in schools", he stressed.
Paulo de Almeida also denied the existence of any public tender within the police and explained that the framing has been done in a special way, as happened recently with the recruitment of 1,500 staff for the rapid intervention police.
