There is no set date by when the promised new police squad for Paceville will be operational, with the Home Affairs Ministry only saying it will be set up “in due course”.
This came just days after Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo told Times of Malta that the squad will be set up “soon”.
A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said the government was working alongside the police force for adequate resources to be made available.
The Paceville dedicated squad was promised in the electoral manifesto and we shall make sure to deliver our promise in due course- Ministry spokesperson
“A lot has already been done with different sections of the police present in Paceville and the nearby areas, among them the rapid intervention unit, the mounted section, K9, district officers and community police officers,” he said.
He noted a decline in reported crimes in St Julian’s, which includes Paceville, in recent years.
A total of 892 crimes were reported last year, a slight increase over the 739 reported in 2020 but a sharp drop when compared to the 1,439 and 1,426 crimes reported in 2018 and 2019.
Until May of this year, 364 crimes have been reported.
“The Paceville dedicated squad was promised in the electoral manifesto and we shall make sure to deliver our promise in due course,” he said when asked about the squad.
The comments come after a series of violent clashes in the entertainment mecca and an apparent upsurge of violence in the Paceville entertainment hub in St Julian’s over the past weeks.
Times of Malta recently reported that just over 400 fights resulting in injuries were reported in St Julian’s over the past four-and-a-half years.
The owner of several nightclubs at the entertainment centre, Jonathan Grima, last week said the locality needed more than the “four or five extra police officers” that have been detailed.
There have long been calls for this special squad to be established, including by St Julian’s mayor Albert Buttigieg and Philip Fenech, chairman of the Town Centre Management of Paceville.