'Crisis' in law and order

Gavin Gulia, Labour Party spokesman on home affairs, yesterday said there was a crisis in security and law and order.

The government has lost all control over ordinary crime and violent thefts, he said, giving the recent spate of hold-ups as an example.

The main reason for the rise in crime was that human resources within the police corps were not being well applied, he maintained.

The lack of police presence in the streets meant there was no deterrent, while many police stations were being kept closed, some of them for months, he charged.

During the night, police stations were manned by a minimal number of officers.

He said he had personally carried out an exercise some time ago and found that just eight policemen were manning police stations in the north.

He criticised the decision to cut the cost of police overtime, saying the government had this year voted Lm135,000 less in overtime for police officers. This was happening at a time when the force needed more money to tackle the problem of security and law and order.

The government did not admit the existence of such a crisis, he said. But the situation demanded that Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and Police Commissioner John Rizzo "take the bull by the horns or else reconsider their position".

Giving figures, Dr Gulia said nearly 18,300 criminal acts were committed last year, including 11,200 thefts.

"Hold ups are taking place nearly every day in broad daylight and it has become common for more than one to be carried out in a single day. On a particular day, there were three."

He said crime had increased by nearly one per cent in 2005 over the previous year and there had been a rise of 25 per cent over 1998, the last year of a Labour government.

In the last eight years, the largest number of hold ups in one year had taken place last year - 61 in all. This was 13 per cent more than 2004 and 22 per cent over 1998.

The Home Affairs Minister and the Police Commissioner could no longer hide from their responsibility to explain this serious situation to the people. The people were right to feel they were not being given enough protection when the perpetrators of hold ups were able to commit their crimes without being hindered.

Dr Gulia also referred to the dissolution of the trial by jury of Brian Vella on Tuesday after evidence given by the Police Commissioner. He remarked that this was the second time that the trial had been dissolved for the same reason.

"To err is human but to persist is diabolical," Dr Gulia said, adding that what happened in court further weakened confidence in the leadership of the police corps and gave the impression of weakness in the face of crime.

Replying to a question in Parliament by Dr Gulia on Tuesday, the Home Affairs Minister said 769 cases of theft had been reported to the police in November and 856 last month. There had been 228 thefts from cars in November and another 193 in December.

During these two months there had also been 23 hold ups, 173 cases of pick pocketing, 26 cases of snatch and grab, six thefts from boats, 116 car thefts, 165 house burglaries, 52 thefts from bars/hotels, 14 from factories and 78 from shops. There were also 544 "other" thefts. The other reported criminal offences include 14 cases of arson and forgery, nine cases of prostitution, 11 cases of violence against public officers and nine sexual offences. There were 154 cases of bodily harm.

Reacting to these comments, the Police Commissioner said it was not correct to say that the crime rate had last year risen over the rate for 2004.

The number of thefts last year was about 100 cases less that the year before and the number of hold ups was only up by one case.

The mobile squad has been beefed up with 12 policemen and 20 cars, Mr Rizzo said in a statement.

Referring to Brian Vella's trial by jury, Mr Rizzo said the first trial was dissolved because the accomplice in the crime had been asked to testify, when his case had not been concluded, and an objection was raised about his testimony because of this.

The Commissioner said that the disparaging remarks directed at him by Dr Gulia were groundless and without any justification.