I pinched myself twice before I started to write this commentary. Was the arrest of Norman Vella for real or not? Were we just assisting to an innovative performance of a play written by Kafka? Innovative in the same way that Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds was innovatively produced in the mid-1930s. The production of that radio play was so creative and so unusual that many people thought it was for real and created widespread panic.
Or was the whole saga just a bad dream, nay, a nightmare?
Unfortunately it was for real. The question still hangs in mid-air whether this was an exercise in extreme stupidity or extreme arrogance.
Probably it was a mixture of both. Who was responsible for this fiasco of gargantuan proportions unnecessarily embarrassed the Government and caused a lot of pain and resentment for no gain at all.
Where shall I begin?
Put yourselves in Vella’s shoes.
You are at your place of work that happens to be a very public place indeed. Thousands go through it every day. You are continually in full view of everyone that makes use of the place.
It is a Sunday afternoon. Work is a bit slow. From time to time you check your smartphone to keep tabs on the progress of your favourite football team. You answer or perhaps send an odd SMS or make a phone call. The atmosphere is tranquil.
Then all of a sudden you are jolted out of your skin. You are surrounded by a number of police officers. An inspector asks for your mobile. It does not even cross your mind to enquire whether he has a warrant to confiscate your smartphone.
You instinctively hand it over, wondering what is happening. They ask you to see the photos folder. Again, you ask yourself why; but you let them watch the photos to their heart’s content. You have nothing to hide. They will see the latest photo of my young child, you warmly chuckle to yourself.
They tell you they did not find what they are looking for. Once more you wonder what they are looking for. Later on you discover that someone lodged a report that you took the photo of two public people in a public place.
The fact that no such photo existed on your smartphone does not make them apologise and leave you alone.
Your smartphone is confiscated, as is your tablet computer. For the ensuing four hours you are interrogated; suspended from work, but then informed you have been reinstated. You sign a statement. The police officer lets you go home a few minutes before 11pm.
You are forced to depart without your smartphone and tablet. Today, these two pieces of technology are the depository of so many facets of your private life. The messages you send to your wife, the conversations with friends, the contacts with myriad people, the photos of your loved ones. Your privacy has been violated, gratuitously, sacrilegiously and gravely.
You protest but it’s Hobson’s choice. You either leave this part of you behind or you don’t leave at all.
Your only consolation is that the investigating officer behaved in a professional way. She did what she had been ordered to do but did it with dignity. One has to be thankful for small mercies.
How would you have reacted had this happened to you?
You would have probably spent the next few days asking why you had to undergo this trauma. Worse still, you are angry that your family had to undergo this pointless suffering. You would have taken it in your stride, perhaps, but you cannot stomach the pain inflicted on your loved ones.
You would probably ask yourself what will happen next. The police would not have acted in this way had a common Joe protested. Some big, probably very big guy must be behind all these tomfoolery.
When will the bully strike next? Your dignity tells you that you have to resist the bully, but a niggling fear burrows your psyche. That question will hang in the air like Damocles’ sword.
Had you been reading the English papers you would have known about Plebgate. Conservative Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell had been accused by some policemen that he had called them ‘f****** plebs’. This comment was considered to be the epitome of arrogance and he was forced to resign. You must have read about the untold suffering, humiliation and despair he and his family went through for months and still ongoing.
You then found consolation in the fact that last week the Independent Police Complaints Commission concluded that there was evidence to support allegations that three police officers had lied in an effort to discredit Mitchell following the Plebgate incident. The report recommended that the three officers should face gross misconduct proceedings.
In your heart of hearts you know that you cannot enjoy your peace of mind any longer
Your lawyers advised you to fight your cause in court.
There, finally, your cause is vindicated. After listening to all concerned the court decided there was no reasonable suspicion that you had committed a crime and ordered the police to give you back the part of your private life they had illegally confiscated, that is, your smartphone and your tablet. And they were ordered to do so immediately.
You can’t believe your ears. There was ‘no reasonable’ suspicion you had committed a crime. This implies that the actions taken against you were capricious. These actions of the police had no reasonable leg to stand on. You are given a clean bill of health. You breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Do you feel you can resume your life normally, going back to your routine that sometimes falls into a lull of boredom while you jiggle with your phone and tablet?
Now you are forever looking over your shoulder and your mind keeps bringing up the same question that everyone in his right mind keeps asking:
If the Malta Police acted capriciously to target an innocent and well-known TV personality, what hope is there for the rest of us if the bully feels we are not towing the line?
In your heart of hearts you know you cannot enjoy your peace of mind any longer.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt