The Swieqi councillor at the forefront of the campaign to have a permanent police presence in the village has launched a withering attack on the Home Affairs Ministry, describing it as being “detached from reality”.
Nationalist councillor Paul Fenech was responding to a Home Affairs Ministry spokesman, who told The Sunday Times the police have been taking the necessary measures since last year to curb the abuse or offences committed by Maltese and foreign nationals in Swieqi.
“The crime patrols have, in fact, been stepped up,” the spokesman said.
Mr Fenech admitted that communication with the police had improved, but “unfortunately, the results have not”.
“The ministry officials tell us they don’t have the resources to allocate police for our locality. The response time when one calls St Julians police station is too long and the damage is never prevented. Police are limited and stretched so Swieqi is always the first off their radar,” Mr Fenech said.
The councillor contacted this newspaper last month after having had enough of what he claimed was nightly noise pollution and vandalism caused by people leaving the nearby entertainment hotspot of Paceville.
Backed by many residents, Mr Fenech claimed that, although the Police Commissioner and a superintendent were sympathetic to Swieqi’s problems, they did not have the resources to respond to the town’s needs and when police arrived they were often too late to catch offenders.
Swieqi (the local council also presides over Tal-Ibraġ, Madliena and part of St Andrew’s) does not have a police station or officers assigned to its streets and residents are forced to report crimes to St Julians police station. One resident said she had given up reporting crime.
The ministry stressed that the police have held meetings with the Swieqi council, English language school representatives and other stakeholders on several occassions regarding the maintenance of public order in the locality.
However, Mr Fenech said there had been too much talk and that action spoke louder than empty promises. According to Mr Fenech, Swieqi needs two uniformed officers who walk the streets of the locality in the early hours of the morning to prevent crime.
Inviting ministry officials to visit lower Swieqi between 2 and 5 a.m. to witness the destruction caused by intoxicated Paceville revellers, Mr Fenech said: “When any law-abiding citizen tries to talk to those causing disturbances, they risk being mobbed and insulted. Only law enforcement officers can bring about any sanity by acting pro-actively.”