The Malta Independent on Sunday
Police safety awareness video clip
‘A good initiative’ some say, while others say it ‘scares the living daylights’ out of them
● Ministry orders Police to remove online video
A safety awareness video clip issued by the Malta Police Force aimed at tourists, particularly English-language students, attracted mixed reactions from the public who posted their comments on various online social media sites. Some said the footage would scare you a mile away, while others said it was a good initiative but there was still ample room for improvement.
But two days after the video was uploaded online, the Home Affairs Ministry ordered the police to withdraw it.
The video had been hugely popular and had received more than 60,000 hits in the two days it was online, but the police Communications Office said that the footage was no longer available. No explanation has been given.
The video featured Superintendent Sharon Tanti giving advice to tourists on the law in Malta, speaking about the illegalities of smoking in closed public spaces, of topless sunbathing and skinny-dipping, and also warning tourists not to jump into the seas from heights.
A particularly graphic scene however seems to have been the highlight of the video clip. It showed a youth jumping off a cliff and hitting a rock, with blood dripping from his head into the water. The clip was intended to make tourists aware that cliff jumping is dangerous and can be fatal but many commentators said that the scene was gruesome and the clip would scare tourists away from our islands.
One social online commentator described the video in general as being reminiscent of the 1980s communist Eastern bloc.
The running commentary by the Police Superintendent, in English, did not go down too well either. Commentators said that her pronunciation left much to be desired, especially when she pronounced the name ‘Malta’ as ‘Maaalta’.
However, one commentator stuck up for the superintendent and said that Maltese people should not take on a foreign pronunciation simply because the name forms part of a sentence in a different language.
One comment read that the clip was far too boring and its length should be drastically reduced since it would bore teenagers to death.
“I think this is an excellent initiative… I would have had a PC and a WPC to make it more interesting though, and less of a tourism stunt too,” another commentator said.