Each police officer stationed in St Julians, Malta’s entertainment hub, is on average having to deal with three times as many cases of theft, vandalism and bodily harm as a colleague in Birkirkara.

From 2 to 6 a.m., Swieqi residents live terrorised

The Times analysed figures for the last three years provided by the police and came up with some starkly contrasting numbers, lending credence to recent calls for a beefed-up police presence in the St Julians district.

The analysis compared three police districts: the 6A District, which oversees the nightclub zone of Paceville; District 9V, which includes the lively Buġibba and St Paul’s Bay areas; and District 8R, at the centre of which lies Malta’s largest town, Birkirkara. The police corps is divided into 11 districts, with each district grouping a number of localities together.

The Times had requested a broader range of criminal statistics but was forced to modify the scope of its analysis after the police said they were unable to provide the requested figures.

While the average police officer in District 6A is faced with 108 cases of theft, vandalism and bodily harm each year, an officer in District 9V tackles slightly less at 91.

Officers in District 8R are the least burdened of the three, with each of the 44 officers stationed there having to tackle a relatively leisurely 36 cases each of these crimes.

With a cohort of 53 officers as well as “additional personnel” during peak periods, the 6A (St Julians) police district would appear to be well-staffed, especially when compared to the 44 officers in District 8R (Birkirkara) and 35 assigned to District 9V (St Paul’s Bay). The police did not disclose how many these “additional personnel” amounted to.

In terms of the number of police officers in proportion to the size of population, the St Julians precinct does better than both its St Paul’s Bay and Birkirkara equivalents. It can boast one police officer for every 614 residents, while the others have an officer for every 640 and 983 inhabitants respectively.

But the sheer number of criminal reports filed in the St Julians district means officers there must generally work much harder than colleagues assigned elsewhere.

The figures come in the wake of renewed scrutiny of policing in district 6V following a spate of law and order incidents in the wider St Julians area which had caught public attention.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came in July when a young man was beaten by a gang in Paceville. His concerned parents and some residents formed the Group Acting for a Safe Paceville (GASP) last August. Calls for an increased police presence in Swieqi gathered momentum, with local councillor Paul Fenech describing another part of District 6A, Swieqi, as “lawless”. Alternattiva Demokratika called for a 24-hour police station in the area.

Last month, apparent police delays in investigating the alleged beating of a 17-year-old by bouncers at a Paceville nightclub made further headlines. Despite filing a report the same night of the alleged beating, the victim’s father and management of the club in question were only contacted by the police once the case made the front page of a Sunday newspaper, almost two weeks later. The police insisted they had started investigating that very night. According to AD Foreign Affairs spokesman and former Swieqi local councillor Arnold Cassola, problems stem from outdated police systems. “The main problem is that this area is still mapped out as it was in the 1960s, with one police station in Sliema and one in St Julians,” before areas such as Swieqi and Paceville boomed.

Local councillor Paul Fenech, who has spearheaded calls for Swieqi to receive an increased police presence, called the current situation “intolerable”.

“From 2 a.m. until 6 a.m., Swieqi residents live terrorised. The greatest victims of Paceville’s alcohol, drug and sexual abuse are Swieqi residents.”

To Mr Fenech’s mind, “the police have to assign a number of officers to patrol the area past the Swieqi bridge in the early hours of the morning. We’re not asking for our own police station, just for an increased police presence.”

Population figures derived from the December 2009 Demographic Review (National Statistics Office).
Crimes, police officers and district boundaries courtesy of CMRU.
“Crimes” refers to instances of bodily harm, damage and theft.
*CMRU said that District 6A receives “additional personnel” during peak periods, but did not quantify this.