Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/521559
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 3 JUNE 2015 News Concerned Swieqi resident messages Prime Minister MARTINA BORG SWIEQI residents have repeat- edly expressed concern about the lack of security in their streets, and one disgruntled resident, JP Barthet, has sent a Facebook message to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat over the issue. In his letter, Barthet reminds Muscat that prior to the last general election, he had visited the locality with a rallying cry to address the security issues, which plague residents of the locality due to its close proxim- ity to nightclub hub Paceville. "Our roads, especially Triq is-Swieqi and Triq is-Sidra have become a playground for overly inebriated people always indulging themselves in van- dalistic sports, using our cars, homes or shops for this totally unacceptable behaviour," Bar- thet wrote in his letter, stress- ing that residents were "tired of the deaf ears" upon which their complaints continued to fall. Asked to further clarif y, Bar- thet said that residents have to endure the shouting, singing and swearing of passers by on their way to and from Paceville every night. "For example just this week- end they have broken or rather, completely ripped off, the side mirror of my car for the fourth time in under a year," Barthet said, adding that someone was mugged in the evening with a knife some weeks ago. Contacted by MaltaToday, Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat said he was not surprised the long- standing issue had led to this development. "I cannot deny that things have changed slightly over time, with the introduction of a new police station in Swieqi, for instance, but progress has been slow and it isn't enough," Mayor Muscat said. He explained that the police station had given residents some peace of mind, so much so that people truly noticed the difference when it was closed, however, given that it was poorly manned, with only two or three officers present at times, it meant that the station was sometimes left unmanned when there was some sort of pressing emergency or when one of the officers was indis- posed. He explained that one of the biggest problems for the station was the small number of recruits, and that this was an issue that could only be dealt with by the government. "The main concern now is that the issue has spread. Whereas before it was somewhat con- fined to the Garden View area and Triq il-Keffa, it has now spread throughout the locality," the mayor said, stressing that it was often not just young for- eign students who were causing trouble. "Indeed, we always have a meeting ahead of the begin- ning of the summer months when we know we will be get- ting an inf lux of many young foreign visitors, but the violent and raucous behaviour is in no way confined to them." Muscat added that the people were right to feel so frustrated as they had to live in constant tension and fear, but, he added, there was very little that local councils could do in this re- spect. "Swieqi is one of the few local- ities in the country that doesn't enjoy any social services like public housing and school- ing, and nor are we asking for them," Muscat clarified. "But given that the locality makes a significant contribution to the country's economy, we expect some attention and funds to be filtered to our issues." The mayor pointed out that many residents lodged com- plaints and contacted him per- sonally through social media and that the local council want- ed to push for CCTV security cameras to be set up through- out the locality. "Such security systems cost quite a bit of money as you can imagine," he stressed. "Not only is the actual equip- ment rather costly, but the maintenance and upkeep also costs a fortune. Furthermore, you cannot forget that people would be needed to monitor the actual footage," Muscat added. Referring to the fact that Bar- thet's letter referred to "talk of street protests and night vig- ils," Muscat said that it wasn't the first time that residents had felt the need to take security into their own hands. "One particular resident had even set up a camera to moni- tor her street, and she had ac- tually caught quite a few people red-handed either breaking into cars or driving inappro- priately," Muscat said, adding that the footage was ultimately forwarded to the police, but that there were some reserva- tions about the legality of such methods. "The people are reacting to a promise that Joseph Muscat had made ahead of the general elections. They see how other frequently visited localities such as Mdina don't have such an extensive problem given the constant surveillance," he said, pointing out that the locality is in fact very large; ranging from Gharghur to Victoria Gardens, Regional Road and even High Ridge and encompassing some 10,000 residents, excluding tourists and long term foreign visitors. Muscat explained that one of the suggestions being currently mulled, besides CCTV, was a neighbourhood watch system. "Although this system could be effective, as it essentially means people living in the ar- ea would co-ordinate with the police should anything amiss happen, it presents a number of issues," Muscat said, explain- ing that it required residents themselves to volunteer, and that they were often afraid of possible retaliation. "There isn't much else local councils can do, but I sincerely hope that the residents' needs and wishes will be met by those who can truly make a differ- ence," Mayor Muscat said. 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