Police presence

Mr Joe Aquilina St John's letter (The Sunday Times, November 26) brought back vivid memories of a police presence which has been noticeably reduced.

I admire the police force and have written about this many a time but Mr Aquilina St John is rightly asking for more police to be seen on our roads! The traffic police and the mobile squads are, in fairness, seen and noticed but not as much as one would like.

It must be noted that the police have been relieved of duties which have been taken over by other departments. Civil protection, fire-fighting, licence and vehicle testing, collisions, trading licences and other jobs are now handled by other competent authorities! It was natural to assume that this would leave more police to do the work they should be doing, but alas this was not the case!

On a radio programme recently I intervened and said: "If only there were more Brincats in the force!" My sincere appreciation of a person who surely goes beyond his call of duty! The only place one sees police in numbers is Valletta..and sometimes a quartet of police motorcyclists accompanying a handful of runners!

The sterling work done by the CID and drug squad are greatly appreciated and the nature of their work precludes them from being 'seen'. Keep up the good work!