Some years ago now I was with friends at a farmhouse in Gozo enjoying a long weekend like many others were at the time. It was late in the evening when we all heard it; the sound of a woman screaming at the top of her voice. She sounded like she was in distress.

We were all in our early 20s at the time and didn’t quite know how to react. Perhaps it was just a domestic, or maybe some other quarrel which was none of our business. However, things got worse. The screaming was of great pain and fear, she seemed to be standing up to someone. As the screams got louder, we decided to take some action and call the police.

I phoned them, and since I was quite worried, as were the rest of the people I was with, I spoke in English. It is always best to go with the language you are most familiar with when you need to be accurate and coherent. I explained that there was a serious disturbance in the house nearby and suggested that they take a look since the person screaming sounded like she was in desperate need of help.

However, the person I spoke to was anything but helpful. The reply was, in a rather unpleasant tone, “Can you speak to me in Maltese?” This person didn’t seem to have difficulty talking in English, and yet she insisted that I spoke to her in Maltese.

I tried to explain in Maltese, but due to the horrid sounds of the screaming coming from the house nearby I couldn’t focus. I panicked and passed the phone over to a friend of mine who has a better command of Maltese than I do.

Needless to say, the police never showed up. The screaming went on for a while longer until the woman left. She got into her car and drove off, screaming and weeping as she did. Something happened within that house that may well have needed the work of the police. Although I know the woman left alive, she could have been in a far more serious situation with no one to help her. She could have died.

What the Police Commissioner has done, in effect, is show the country that we do not have much protection

And all this because the person at the end of the phone wanted to prove a point about language. The act of forcing people to speak Maltese in such a situation is less about national identity and more about forcing an outsider to submit to you, in the face of serious consequences if they don’t. It comes from a pathological desire to be nasty and wield power over someone.

Discrimination in Malta is not just common, it is normal and expected. When I tell this story to other people they all say the same thing; that you can’t rely on the police in Gozo. While I am sure there are those who do their job with integrity, I couldn’t help but agree. However, the same can be said for the police in Malta too, can’t it?

Recently we saw how, after serious allegations were made against the Prime Minister and his wife regarding the infamous Egrant company, no police officers were sent in to close off the bank. Not straight away, at least. And I believe we all saw the footage of the owner of  a bank walk out of there carrying a bag filled with what by then could easily have been evidence.

The Police Commissioner didn’t think the situation was more important than his fenkata and the whole country looked on in shock as the events unfolded, events which I am sure we are all familiar with now.

The point here is that sometimes I need the police, too. Sometimes I need the protection of the law. What if someone breaks into my house? What do I do then? Call the police and be told that they won’t speak to me until I speak to them in Maltese? And even if they do come, how do I know for certain that the police officers investigating the crime won’t suddenly cover up for a friend they know, or be told to cover up for someone?

I know I am not alone in this, and after seeing what happened outside Pilatus Bank all assumptions about the police force have been confirmed in my eyes. What the commissioner has done, in effect, is show the country that we do not have much protection, not from individual criminals nor from wayward politicians, and all the criminals here can in many ways do what they like because few people are going to feel safe phoning the police.

I wonder how that makes police officers feel? Do they not have, at the core of their motivation to wear their uniform, a deep sense to protect? What if your child needs protection? Who are you going to call to get that protection? And what if the criminal in question turns out to be a friend of one of the officers?

I have had interactions with the police that have been very positive. But this is not always the case. We need to have a country that protects each and every human being who sets foot on this island. We must do away with the assumptions that contacting the police is futile.

I believe that, apart from the serious implications the actions of the Police Commissioner have towards the current political crisis, he has also rendered everyone in Malta unsafe, and I don’t think anything he can say or do now can fix that.

It’s such a letdown.