This summer, Sliema has increasingly reminded me of Amity Island – the fictional beach resort that was terrorised at the height of its summer tourist season by a man-eating Great White. Jaws changed the world’s understanding and perception, not just of sharks, but of the deep blue. Casual swimming – from water skiing to just dipping your feet in the water – would never be the same again.

There can be no doubt that Sliema has undergone huge transformation. This once cool and composed coastal town, which derives its name from the Maltese word for peace and solace, has long lost its etymological meaning and purpose. The once-upon-a-time sleepy fishing town and, later, exclusive summer resort of the wealthy, with its elegant town houses and quiet streets, is gone, never to return.

The overpopulated, noise-polluted, litter fest and concrete jungle that is Sliema today – with its high-rise apartments, unabating traffic, foreign students, tourists, expatriates and influx of other newbies and city crashers – is Malta’s underbelly; an area which has recently proven extremely unsafe and vulnerable to attack, where the sound of police sirens is never far off.

Truthfully, I haven’t felt completely safe in some parts of Malta for years. It’s not so much that I live in a perpetual state of fear or feel that my property and person are seriously compromised. It’s just that where before, I – and presumably others – perceived Malta as a protected oasis and comfort zone in a dangerous, hostile and largely unsafe world, general consensus today is that our island has caught up with Europe and the world.

Put simply, I feel as safe and unsafe as I do everywhere else. We’re certainly at par with Europe, which, after all, was the whole point of the exercise we voted for in 2003, wasn’t it?

In the last five years, I have travelled to Barcelona, Bologna, Brussels, Bucharest, Rome, London, Munich, Paris, and even the US, and I dare say, I exercised the same levels of vigilance overseas as I do here. When I carry a handbag, my shoulder arm instinctively tends to tense up in a shrug position.

Perhaps it has something to do with the way I sling the bag over my shoulder and keep it close to my chest at all times. Letting it hang loose or at the back of a restaurant chair is a distant memory.

In hindsight, if I were to select the place where I let my guard drop, it would ironically be the US – supposed gang capital of the world. Admittedly, I visited elegant neighbourhoods and stuck to the better-looking parts of town. But I definitely remember being far less concerned with my handbag there than I have been here, for some time now.

While theft in Malta is hardly new, we have definitely seen an increase in a much more sophisticated and seamless sort of street crime, which has been on the rise for the last decade or so, coinciding perfectly with Malta’s accession into Europe. Which is neither here nor there. No use bellyaching or pointing accusatory fingers now.

Gone are the days when you’d only hear of smashed rear glass quarter window panels, principally aimed at ripping out car stereos. It was a big deal and business in the 1980s and 1990s. While cars will always be easy targets, today the game has changed. Car theft is no longer carried out behind your back, ‘while you were sleeping’.

You can no longer leave your passenger window rolled down while you’re driving because you risk being mugged at the traffic lights.

You can’t leave your bag in the car for a minute while you pop back into the house to retrieve your mobile phone. Even if you’re filling up your car with fuel and are standing right there, your handbag and wallet should not be left lying around on the seat unattended.

Pickpocketing is a relatively new phenomenon which was never really in our DNA. Since its inception, it has always been associated with our Eastern European neighbours, who reputedly have mangled or fractured thumbs and come from underprivileged backgrounds.

And while theft from houses, apartments and households is certainly not a novelty, it used to be newsworthy and exceptional and never as alarmingly commonplace and brazen as it has been in Sliema this summer.

Suffice to say that the recent tsunami of thefts committed has equalled the total number of break-ins that were reported in Malta for the whole of 2013.

Thieves, like sharks, lay eggs. There will always be a sequel

It has cast a great big shadow on life in Malta and on the sort of summer we are accustomed to enjoying – a carefree and restful time of the year, when people want and expect to be able to enjoy the outdoors, kick back and take it easy.

And not be reinforcing their front doors, changing locks, installing burglar alarms, CCTV cameras and seized by enormous terror, petrified to leave their homes for fear that they will be targeted next.

Moreover, the invisible and seamless nature of the crime, where perpetrators are not resorting to breaking an entry, but are able to bypass any sort of door or lock without attracting noise and attention, makes the situation even more frightening.

Unfortunately much like the Great White in the Atlantic, hunting ‘the sock gang’ down, although long overdue and desirable, is a short-term fix.

Thieves, like sharks, lay eggs. There will always be a sequel. The police obviously don’t have the resources, experience or training.

It’s up to us to cultivate our dormant sense of civic awareness. Moreover, having a highly intelligent security programme system in place in our towns and villages, combined with well-trained monitoring staff and an effective and well co-ordinated police and warden response team, although costly, would go a long way toward making people feel safer.

Provided we see results, an annual local council fee per household – much like a residents’ association fee – might be worth considering.