Criminality: Visible and deliverable

The Nationalist government may have gone on publicity mode to dupe the man in the street with its so-called "visible and deliverable" campaign.

Doubtlessly what is most visible and deliverable under the Fenech Adami administration is the ease with which crime is reaching new heights, month after month and year after year.

This is the fourth consecutive year the government has miserably failed to honour its 1998 electoral pledge to curb crime. Instead, crime figures in 1998, compared to official statistics today, prove that under Alfred Sant's office the country was far more secure and tranquil.

The home affairs ministry can never deny that the crime rate in 1998 was lower than in any one year of this administration. Crime statistics are given to the House of Representatives by the minister of the interior himself in response to my parliamentary questions so that this historical fact can never be disproved no matter how much the government tries to downplay the importance of the problem.

Make no mistake. The Nationalists would now be making a meal of a Labour-led government if it was responsible for this critical state of affairs. The matter would have been advertised, under broad front page headlines, as a national crisis or state of emergency in contrast to the poor news value it is actually being attributed by the pro-government print media.

No wonder most government ministers have become arrogant. They enjoy the privelege of media protection whenever they blunder so that they rarely feel the heat under the collar. Unfortunately this over-friendly attitude of the press helps the country to plunge deeper into turmoil as it injects higher doses of inertia in ministerial muscle. The way I see it, when this government loses the next general election a good slice of the media will be partly responsible.

While the police corps paraded before the President July 12 to mark its 188th anniversary, the country was experiencing the worst crime wave since independence in blistering heat. And while the home affairs minister was showing President de Marco around the new premises at police general headquarters, it was business as usual for thieves, robbers, drug addicts and organised gangs as they rampaged their way into houses, shops, offices and beaches to push the crime rate upwards by another couple of hundred cases.

And as the new police recruits threw their hats in the air in jubilation, more cocaine, ecstacy and heroin was finding its way into the country than was being successfully seized at the airport.

The government would like to persuade people that it is visibly delivering its internal affairs politics with flashy parades in Palace Square, ribbon cutting ceremonies at police general headquarters and with fresh recruitments of new officers.

At face value all these may appear to be plausible accomplishments. But go tell this to the 4,285 persons who, during the first six months of the current year, were victims of a myriad of crimes against property, from "pick-pocketing" to "hold-ups" to "snatch and grab". From theft from residences, factories and beaches to theft from vehicles, retail outlets, bars and hotels.

And what about those 7,975 victims of arson, bodily harm, damage to property, drugs, fraud, homicide and theft during the past six months.

They must all be thankful to the ceremonial mood of the government. There were by far less victims by end 1998 when, in Joe Saliba's unguarded words, the Nationalists "managed to bring down a democratically elected Labour government". Labour was not only democratic. Labour was certainly more successful and effective in combating crime with less ceremonies, parades and police recruits.

This government cannot beat crime unless it concentrates its resources on two major areas. In the first place it has to put in place an infrastructure that supervises coordination between our police corps and our social and educational institutions.

You cannot expect to beat crime by dumping the police alone on the frontline of the war against crime. There are criminals who are criminals from birth but these account for a few. Most become criminals because of social emargination and inaccessibility to educational opportunities. This would involve a closer relationship between the interior and education ministries.

Secondly, the police will need to focus more on prevention than on investigation. More effective preventive action will lead to less need for investigation. There should be more investment in prevention, more time consumed on the beat and more versatility.

Police need to anticipate where next the criminal is going to strike. Malta is not only Paceville and Marsascala. It is very convenient to rest on the excuse that it is not possible for the police to be everywhere all the time. True. But if they cannot be present all the time then they should at least be present most of the time. It is not only a case of increasing the numbers but of making sensible distribution of available resources. Labour will be able to do just that.

Finally, on a third front, there must be more than just lip-service in the war against the importation of drugs. Today Malta is taking in drugs from outside at a faster rate than Karmena from Strada Stretta used to lie on her back to randy naval servicemen in the '60s. This is the real cause for the dramatic increase in crime. More drug addiction inevitably leads to more petty and serious theft. Look at the crime statistics and you'll have the cause staring at you.

Only when importation of drugs is put under strain will there be a decline in the crime rate. So long as drugs continue to reach the addict, the crime rate is destined to continue rising.