Swieqi residents’ safety concerns are set to decrease as the locality prepares to get considerable new CCTV coverage to help in the fight against vandalism and crime.
Mayor Noel Muscat told the Times of Malta that agreement had been reached between the council and the Malta Tourism Authority that would see some 22 cameras set up in the locality across eight strategic points in the residential area.
The local council, he said, would be in charge of the maintenance and recordings from the equipment, and the MTA would finance their initial installation.
“The aim is to combat vandalism and similar acts and they must not be used for the issuance of parking tickets or waste disposal irregularities,” he said.
The council would also instal a server that could accommodate a further 19 cameras.
“If these cameras prove successful, we will be in a position to add more to the locality’s network,” Mr Muscat said.
Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela told Parliament last week that after lengthy discussions, the government had agreed to pay for and instal several new security cameras across the locality of Swieqi to help catch vandals and criminals.
Swieqi has gone from a peaceful place to live in, to a security nightmare
Mr Muscat has long been calling for the locality to be covered with CCTV cameras. These, he believes, will not only act as a deterrent, but also help in identifying and catching criminals and vandals which have been tormenting residents.
Security in Swieqi has been a major concern for residents for several years.
Last month, this newspaper reported how residents had taken to a Facebook group to “beg” the authorities to instal the CCTV cameras.
“I have lived here all my life. And believe me when I say Swieqi has gone from a peaceful place to live in, to a security nightmare.
“Every day we hear of one of our neighbours’ houses being broken into, or having cars vandalised. We get graffiti sprayed and people having drunk fights in our front gardens in the early hours of the morning,” Kenneth Grima, 36, told the Times of Malta.
Other residents, writing on the Swieqi resident pages on social media, have commented on the effectiveness of CCTV cameras as a deterrent.
“My car was getting keyed and my front door used as a toilet. I installed cameras and the police identified one person from the footage recorded. Safe to say, the vandalism has since stopped,” resident Mary Grace Vella wrote.