Small fry, big fish and law enforcement

When are we going to change our mentality in general, whether it is the man in the street or the authorities, and realise that might is not right and that the law is there and equal for everyone and should be enforced constantly, consistently and without fear or favour?

A person who is driving home from a hard day's work cannot find a parking space in the blistering humid heat of the Malta summer and, in frustration, he gives up and decides to park illegally. He is yearning to arrive home, have a shower, change and relax. The fact that there are not enough parking spaces in relation to the number of cars on the islands is not his fault. He broke the law, he gets booked and fined and that's how it should be to maintain law and order. A person who runs a lido and has a beach concession decides to capitalise on the Malta summer's blistering heat and the peak of the tourist season and so decides to expand his beach concession, to the extent that he takes over the whole beach and does not even respect the distance from the shoreline.

This person also broke the law, not out of a situation beyond his control but out of greediness to fatten his wallet and with complete disregard to the law, disrespect to the public in general and to the detriment of every Maltese citizen, whether man, woman or child who want to relax and enjoy the sea and sun. In the first instance, we have wardens running all over the islands to book illegally-parked cars or those with excess emissions or people not wearing seatbelts in order to enforce the law and protect the environment and the safety of the public.

In the second instance we do not have law enforcement officers, environmentalists and beach patrols, or if we have they are noteworthy by their failure to defend the rights of every Maltese citizen to have access to the beach of his choice, to a place on the beach, whether on the shoreline, the back of the beach or where it pleases him and to help him, give the necessary assistance in case of accidents, whether minor or serious, and support him and guide him in case of any difficulty.