Local council calls for greater police presence

The Sta Lucija local council is calling for a greater police presence in the locality.

In a press conference yesterday, mayor Frederick Cutajar complained that the locality's police station was closed most of the time, even though the locality had been at the receiving end of vandalism over the past few weeks.

"We do not only want the police station to be open but we want to see policemen patrolling the streets," the mayor said, adding that although the police corps might have problems with shortage of officers, the people living in Sta Lucija should not be the ones to suffer.

Mr Cutajar said it was alarming that although there were around 1,200 families living in the town, there were not enough policemen to take care of the area.

"Something definitely needs to be done," he said, adding that the situation probably existed in other localities.

Benches and other street furniture in the town square were the target of vandalism a few weeks ago, while waste separation bins were burnt and the home of the Sisters of St Francis and kindergarten at Dawret it-Torri had been attacked. Recently an elderly lady living on her own was woken up in the middle of the night when someone started banging on her front door.

Mr Cutajar said the situation had become intolerable, adding that the council was unanimous in condemning those attacks.

"We want to see police on the roads. That is the only way to try and solve the big crime problem we have," he said.

The mayor pointed to what he termed a big drug problem in the locality, evident from the quantity of syringes collected daily.

"We need members of the Drug Squad working undercover in the area." Questions sent to the police about the problems in Sta Lucija were not answered yesterday.

The Nationalist Party's Sta Lucija sectional committee strongly condemned the acts of vandalism in the locality. Nationalist councillor Charles Bezzina and the committee expressed their solidarity with the victims and appealed to people who have information that could assist the police.

More than 8,500 crimes took place in Malta in the first six months of the year, 5,132 of which were thefts. Last year 18,127 crimes were committed, more than 11,000 of which were thefts, statistics presented by Labour MP Gavin Gulia showed.

Speaking during the press conference in Sta Lucija, Dr Gulia said this "alarming problem" of thefts was mainly associated with drugs. He said it had become easy to get hold of drugs, especially in areas where young people meet. Heroin addiction was again raising its ugly head.

Dr Gulia said the drug problem was associated with the rampant problem of importation. Drugs were not only being brought in through the airport but mostly by sea, he said, adding that more efforts should be made to curb drug smuggling.