The court notifications services would be transferred from the police to the private sector, and the police would have their own lawyers to prosecute cases, leaving inspectors free to concentrate on investigative work, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said in Parliament.

Speaking at the introduction of a bill with wide-ranging amendments to various laws, the minister also explained that guidelines had been laid town to the Attorney General when he decided whether drug cases should be heard before a magistrate or a judge.

The AG’s unfettered discretion had been criticized in the past.  The new clause sets out numerous objective tests, which have to be underlined by the Attorney General in taking the decision, such as the amount of the drug coupled with the purity of the drug.  Another test is whether a person attempted to hide the drug, he said. The accused will have the possibility of judicial review of such classification.

The Bill also makes amendments to the Conduct Certificates law, limiting the time when minor crimes would appear on conduct certificates. Furthermore, penalties of €200 or less should no longer continue to feature on conduct.

Dr Bonnici also said that the police should no longer continue delivering court notifications; a private company should do this. With reference to police inspectors who acted as prosecutors, he said that he was aware of their workload. That was why he would, in the near future, the police force would have its own lawyers who would do all the prosecutions whilst the police inspectors would only investigate crimes.

Moreover, in order to tackle delays, e-mail notifications should also be made use of and district court of magistrate sittings should be split in two, those starting at 9 a.m. and those starting at 11a.m. However, the judiciary should make it a point to start all of sittings punctually. Otherwise, those who do not would be named in Parliament.

The need for harsher penalties for bullies and stalkers was often spoken of, and this Bill defined stalking, as well as creating harsher penalties for those found guilty. These penalties involved a fine of up to €10,000, one year imprisonment or both, Dr  Bonnici said.

Similarly, the laws against cyber bullying were being strengthened, as this led to serious social and psychological problems. There were cases in which it even led to self-harm. This was the reason the government would be coming down heavily on these people.