Said lays out proposals for rowdy people in tourists hot-spots
Nationalist Party (PN) leadership candidate Chris Said believes in naming and shaming individuals found guilty of causing fights and vandalising private property in order to act as a deterrent for others.
Said was addressing members of the press in Buġibba Square yesterday, just days after two Syrian men were arrested for causing a violent brawl in the same place. Footage has also recently appeared of a fight that took place two months ago, where two Paceville bouncers violently beat up two men, one Syrian and the other Jordanian.
In the light of popular leisure spots for both Maltese and tourists alike making headlines due to rowdy behaviour and vandalism, Said called a press conference to outline his proposals for how to mitigate the situation.
He said that apart from having a negative impact on Malta’s tourism industry, it also disrupts the quality of life for locals and business owners who are trying to get on with their day-to-day lives.
Said outlined several proposals, such as the setting up of a security committee in the various zones were such events are more likely to take place, such as St Paul’s Bay, Buġibba, St Julian’s, Swieqi, Paceville and Sliema.
The committee would be made up of police representatives, local councillors, representatives from the business community and from residents. He stressed that this would be something different from a neighbourhood watch, and that the committee would identify informed measures to prevent rowdy behaviour and vandalism from happening in the first place.
The establishment of a new crime that deals with fights between more than two individuals was also suggested, with a harsh penalty to go along with it. Said said local authorities should be deployed in these sensitive spots, possibly even round-the-clock.
He called for harsher penalties when private or public property is used in the course of a fight, such as in the Buġibba Square brawl, in which state-owned bollards were used as weapons. Private property, such as chairs and tables from businesses, are often used when a fight breaks out; harsher penalties could, therefore, act as a deterrent, Said stressed.
He called on the police force to regain its moral authority and to gain the public’s trust once again. Said slammed the re-instatement of police officers with criminal records, inferring that one of the reasons why people no longer trust the police force is this practice. He also called on promotions to be made on the basis of merit.
The Police Academy was mentioned, where Said said that this should be restored in order to regain the status it once had and, lastly, he called on the tourism police to be used for their intended purpose.