There is no contingency plan for any major mishap in Paceville, be it a mass fight or a fire in a place of entertainment. In any such event not even the police would know where to begin to handle the situation, Assistant Police Commissioner Ray Zammit told Parliament's Social Affairs Committee yesterday.
It would be good to an exercise to form some appropriate ideas, he added.
The meeting, chaired by Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo, was attended by representatives of several entities involved in Malta's major entertainment area.
Mr Zammit, who is responsible for a large area including Paceville, said private bouncers in several establishments constituted "another army" against the police by not allowing them to do their duty inside the establishment.
Although there seemed to be only a small uniformed district police presence in the centre of Paceville, the real police effort was much bigger, including units of the SAG, Drug Squad, Administrative Law Enforcement and plainclothes policemen.
The so-called teens parties, which had been unheard-of until a few years ago and of which the police would know nothing in advance unless an organiser applied for a permit, attracted people as young as 10, but the law said nothing about a minimum age for young people to attend.
Unfortunately some families' values had all but disappeared, with parents siding with their children on the pretext that they had "grown up all of a sudden".
Mr Zammit said the clothing and behaviour of several Paceville patrons, including parents, sometimes made him wonder what was still indecent and vulgar.
As for the availability of alcohol to under-17s, people had found a way around the system by buying it from car boots just before 9 p.m., even outside Paceville. There had been cases of teenagers being found semi-conscious on the rocks after having experimented with vodka and a popular energy drink.
The entertainment buzz was only just starting at 1 a.m., and high volumes of music had greater effects on heavily-imbibed people. Indeed the most common incidents occurred after 4 a.m.
Police Superintendent Stephen Gatt, based at St Julian's, put most incidents down to a growing lack of tolerance. Another problem was that once music stopped being played in bars they must close down completely, not just their shutters with customers staying on until daytime.
The fact that prices of alcoholic drinks in Malta were still far below those in other countries – he mentioned €10 for a drink in Finland – did not help.
While Maltese patronage decreased in summer there was a heavy influx of foreign students, making for an inter-racial mix of cultures in a relatively-small area.
Instead of different laws on police procedures, entertainment and wines and spirits, some dating back to 1908 and discriminatory in themselves, there should be one umbrella law arrived at after a joint study in which all involved pulled the same rope.
But while the police were doing their best to handle the situation, what hurt most was the "unfair barrage by the media, especially at weekends and mostly by two particular journalists", who seemed to take pleasure in denigrating police efforts as if they had only Paceville to control.
Philip Fenech, chairman of the GRTU's Tourism & Entertainment Division, said Paceville as an area was a 24-hour source of added value to the economy, where up to 20,000 people from several walks of life went to release their pent-up tensions or even celebrate.
Considerations that had historically made for serious incidents included pettiness, juvenile delinquency, language students, football support and festa rivalry – in brief, people's lack of self-management. In the past, foreign sailors on shore leave had also been the culprits.
Looking on the brighter side of things, he said that 30 years ago the situation had been very different, with only six places of entertainment, four bombing incidents and payment of protection money.
A structured police presence in Paceville was required not only at peak times. The SAG had been the most effective in the management of commotion.
GRTU President Paul Abela said that once values declined, there was very little else to rely on. The hastily-decided banning of alcohol sales after 9 p.m. had not proved to be the hoped-for magic recipe because people were finding a way around it with the help of car boots.
Dr Anthony Farrugia, a lawyer and resident of Paceville who founded GASP after his son had been threatened with a broken bottle, said it was offensive for his group to be accused of wanting a police state there. The situation was untenable and could not wait until some tragedy occurred.
GASP was very satisfied with the results of recent steps taken, which had vindicated the group's faith in the police. So resources could be found when somebody put their minds to it.
Dr Farrugia said incidents at Paceville could never be stamped out completely, but at least now there was a visible deterrent. His group would continue to monitor the situation.
Mr Richard Scicluna, deputy mayor of St Julians local council and chairman of the administrative council for Paceville, acknowledged that progress had been made but added that law and order were needed all day.
What attention was being paid to the side streets, where residents' parapets were ending up as the scenes of illicit acts in the small hours? Residents had lost all hope of having an effective neighbourhood watch.
A particular bottle shop in Paceville Avenue was a potential source of trouble where the owner encouraged youths to sing rival political songs.
The sight of a police presence did not bother him, indeed he encouraged it.
St Julians mayor Peter Bonello said incidents at Paceville would never cease completely. One potential major source of help would be to have a police sub-station at Paceville, even if only at weekends, or to move the police station there from St Julians, where there were no major problems of law and order.
The stationing of medical services and an ambulance might also help.
He expressed severe doubts as to whether Paceville was prepared for a serious fire or other tragedy in any establishment, and suggested the organisation of a fake exercise to help map out a plan.