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NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 MARCH 2019 2 MASSIMO COSTA CASES of damage to public and private property in the popular touristic town of St Julian's have seen a decrease in the last four years relative to 2013 and 2014, sta- tistics show. While there were 132 reports of van- dalism on properties in 2013, and 135 in 2014, the town, which is one of Malta's main entertainment districts, saw such cases drop to 73, 77 and 63 in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively. In 2018, however, the number was somewhat higher than in the previous two years, with 85 reports. The information was tabled in Parlia- ment by Home Affairs minister Michael Farrugia, who was replying to a series of parliamentary questions from Nationalist Party MP Karol Aquilina on the number of police reports concerning wilful dam- age and arson on private and public prop- erties in St Julian's, Gzira, Pembroke and Bahar ic-Caghaq. The number of reported arson cases in St Julian's has varied only slightly, with three cases in 2013 and 2014, no cases in 2015, two in 2015, one in 2016 and two in 2018. Statistics from CrimeMalta.com show that St Julian's was, as of 2018, one of five Maltese towns – the others being Mdina, Floriana, Valletta and Marsa – classified as "very high risk" when it comes to the total number of crimes reported, with the crime rate being between two to five times as high as the national rate. However, while St Julian's, which in 2017 had 12,709 residents, including 4,308 foreigners, has seen a fall in reports of wilful damage to property in recent years, the situation in the other three lo- calities has remained relatively constant. Reports of property damage in Gzira – which had a population of 10,784 in 2017, 4,364 of whom were foreigners – stood at 30, 36, 27, 37, 31 and 32 for the years 2013 to 2018 respectively. When it comes to arson, there was a single case reported in 2013, four in 2014, none in 2015 and 2016, and two in 2017 and 2018. No figures were available specifically for Bahar ic-Caghaq, with the hamlet in- stead being included with the statistics for Naxxar. Despite Naxxar's high number of resi- dents – it was Malta's seventh most populous town in 2017, with 14,467 in- habitants, of whom 1,239 were foreign – its wilful damage to property figures are considerably less than those of St Julian's, reflecting the more residential nature of the locality. There were 38 such reports in 2013, and 33, 22, 33 and 24 in 2014 to 2017 respec- tively. The figure for last year is slightly up, with 41 reports. Arson cases, similar to the trend in St Julian's and Gzira, are low, with two, four, two, one, three and two cases re- ported from 2013 to 2018 respectively. Pembroke – a significantly smaller town, with 3,822 residents in 2017, in- cluding 317 non-Maltese nationals – saw a marked drop in property damage re- ports last year, with just four cases. For 2013 to 2017, the numbers correspond- ingly stand at 19, 17, 12, 15 and 12 re- ports. The low number of arson cases is mir- rored here too, with two cases in 2013, just one in 2014, 2016 and 2017 and none in 2015. CrimeMalta.com classifies all Gzira, Naxxar and Pembroke as low-risk for to- tal crimes in general, with the crime level being less than the national rate. Streets close to Paceville with most wil- ful damage reports The data also included, for each town, the streets in which the reported crimes took place. The streets in St Julian's where most property damage took place surround neighbouring nightlife areas, with Triq San Gorg seeing 78 reports in the last five years, and Triq Id-Dragunara seeing 42. Triq George Borg Olivier, Triq il-Kbira, Triq Lapsi, Triq Santu Wistin and Triq Spinola also saw a higher number of re- ports over the five year period than most of the other streets. The Gzira areas with most frequently reported cases of property damage are Manoel Island, Triq D'Argens, Triq ix- Xatt and Triq San Albert, although these each still only see less than a handful of cases each year. For Naxxar and Pembroke, there fails to appear to be any stark connection be- tween a particular street and property damage reports. In terms of arson reports, in the cases of St Julian's, Gzira and Pembroke, there doesn't seem to be any strong correla- tion between such reports and any spe- cific street, with no street having more than a single report of arson in any given year. In Naxxar, Triq il-Lampara is the only street in which more than one case of ar- son took place, with two reports in 2014, but none in any of the other years. St Julian's, Gzira and Pembroke are situ- ated in Malta's Northern Harbour Dis- trict, while Naxxar and Bahar ic-Caghaq are in the Northern District. mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt St Julian's suffers slight reversal in property vandalism downward trend Reports of wilful damage to property in St Julian's dropped by more than half in 2017 compared to 2013, but saw a relative rise last year Naxxar, together with Gzira and Pembroke, was classified as low-risk for total crimes in general, with the crime level being less than the national rate

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