Police on the community beat is set to be a much more common sight with a target of extending community policing to all Malta and Gozo by 2023. 

Addressing a press conference about the extension of the community policing project to a further nine localities, police commissioner Angelo Gafa heralded the initiative as a success. 

Community policing is designed to allow officers to continuously operate and carry out foot patrols in the same area, with the aim of creating a stronger bond with people living and working in the locality.

Gafa said since the first pilot community policing project two years ago, surveys had shown peoples’ trust in the police had grown.

He said community policing had helped give a voice to individual communities. This, he continued, resulted in police becoming an integral part of the community.

Gafa said the use of social media also helped police better connect with people. 

The police commissioner showered praise on the officers who opted to join the community policing schemes, describing them as being highly motivated. 
Community policing now covers a total of 28 localities. 

The latest localities to benefit from police on the beat are Marsa, Hamrun, Tarxien, Kalkara, Cospicua, Vittoriosa, Senglea, St Julian’s and Santa Venera. 

Proactive rather than reactive

Home Affairs minister Byron Camilleri said the extension of the scheme led to more security in the communities being covered. 

Camilleri said the extension of community policing was part of a move away from the more traditional policing, centred around police stations in a locality. 

He said community policing allowed officers to be proactive rather than reactive, as well as build a bond with the community they were policing. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.