Senseless murders like that of Bernice Cassar leave society collectively in mourning and it’s natural for that to transform into a public debate. But in our zeal to analyse the underlying dynamics of gender-based violence, we may be dismissing an even more basic issue: the state’s failure to keep citizens safe when they patently are not.

The recently implemented femicide law urges harsher sentences for murders committed with “femicidal intent”. And defendants in such cases can no longer argue they committed the crime out of “passion”. 

This was a good step forward and may help to put Cassar’s aggressor behind bars for longer.

But, crucially, it did not save her life.

What seems clear from the information that has emerged so far is that the state could have. Thanks to the reports filed by Cassar in the days before the murder, the state had all the information it needed to justify protecting her from her husband, who is now accused of killing her.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri did well to appoint an inquiry to understand the state’s shortcomings in this case. When the family sues for damages, such an inquiry could help the state form its legal position. But potential legal action against the state would not justify keeping the inquiry’s findings private.

To the contrary, the inquiry and its process must be made fully public because the country needs to understand what is failing us.

We have already established that the state could have saved the life of Malta’s highest-profile journalist from a known criminal gang linked to politi­cal circles that was plotting her assassination when they should have been in jail or at least under close scrutiny. Instead, the state’s institutions failed Daphne Caruana Galizia miserably and, in some cases, deliberately.

What about Cassar and all the other victims of domestic violence? What is preventing the police from taking immediate action to assess the threats posed to victims? What does it take to jolt the police into a serious intervention? Why does it feel like people are treated like numbers or, worse, like pests that must be flicked away with bureaucracy?

Is the police force managing to recruit enough brave men and women empowered to take decisive and timely action instead of sitting on reports and covering themselves in red tape?

It is difficult to have faith in our police force after so many cases of bad judgement. Murders like Cassar’s show us the deadly results of such failures. It is high time we demand more from our security services. And that includes investing more in them. Not just in fancy equipment that ministers can wrap ribbons around but in the human capital.

The police force should be given serious funding to attract, train and retain better recruits who are ready to go the extra mile. It is also time to consider opening the force to foreign nationals even, perhaps as a pathway to gaining citizenship. This could provide the police force with invaluable help, especially in towns with large non-Maltese populations.

Of course, we must analyse and start to fix the cultural underpinnings that lead to women like Cassar being murdered. But there is another immediate requirement: we must all feel safe in our country. And that starts with a competent, effective and passionate police force that doesn’t hide behind paperwork.

That is why the government’s inquiry cannot be treated like yet another dossier for gathering dust. It must give us real, qualitative results for how the most vulnerable in our society get the protection they deserve.