Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/643092
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2016 15 unlearn things than to learn them. It is harder to deal with miscon- ceptions, than to deal with crime itself…" At the same time, the percep- tion is not just that crime is go- ing up; there is also a feeling that we are witnessing different types of crime. The Sliema thefts involved a foreign gang, which Prof. Formosa admits represents something of a new phenomenon for Malta. We are also living in a digitised world, and having to contend with new realities… cy- bercrime, for instance. "Yes, the type of crimes being reported is changing. Even if the number of reported thefts has dropped considerably, there have been increases – sometimes quite dramatic – in specific types of theft. For instance: pickpocketing has skyrocketed in the last year. Where before there may have been 70 reports in a year, we are now seeing close to 1,000. Crime is becoming more personal in this sense. The theft of a laptop, a mo- bile phone… this sort of crime is on the increase, even if thefts from private residences have dropped. And there is another factor: do- mestic violence…" Here, Prof. Formosa warns that statistics have to be treated with caution. "If you just look at the figures, the number of domes- tic violence reports has shot up dramatically. But this is also to do with the fact that the Domes- tic Violence Act introduced new definitions. So types of crimes that were not reported at all previous- ly, are now being reported. Signifi- cantly, however, cases involving grievous or serious bodily harm have dropped. What we are seeing more of are reports of psychologi- cal harm…." There are also anomalies that can be put down to economies of scale. Formosa points out how the town of Hal Safi experienced an explosion in such domestic vio- lence cases. "On paper, it looked like an alarming spike. What actu- ally happened, however, was that there were two or three couples going through separation cases, and they suddenly started report- ing each other over every single incident imaginable… in this sense, statistics can also be mis- leading…" Coming back to the changing face of crime: new developments (including sporadic cases of what appears to be gang warfare) also raise the question of whether our law enforcement capability is geared up to deal with these re- alities. Is the Malta Police Force large and well-equipped enough to cope? "Let's take two different levels. On one level there is the issue of recruitment. To become a police officer, all you need is four O- levels. That is the minimum. Is the system sufficient in its present form? Should we go for a more academic approach? At the mo- ment, it is being tackled through a programme of continuous train- ing. There are proposals involving MCAST, the University… and at inspector level, it is now possible to get a diploma. But it has to be kept at a full-time level. You can't have a full-time policeman work- ing nine to five, and then spending from five to nine in the evening doing additional training. They'll be too tired, and it would be coun- terproductive. But things are mov- ing at that level…" The other level concerns equip- ment, and here the situation is less promising. "The fact is that the Corps needs to be updated to today's realities. The Police Force cannot only be reactive; it has to also be proactive. And there are efforts to go there. What worries me, however, is that the crime situation – not just in Malta, but all over the world – is going to change drastically in the next five years." In the next few years, society is going to move towards an increas- ingly virtual environment. "Today, we are used to the world of the internet… but that is evolv- ing, and we will soon have to con- tend with virtual reality in 3D… Facebook, for instance, has just bought Oculus Rift… a virtual headset that enables people to in- teract with an artificial environ- ment in 3D. That's the first step; the next step will be augmented reality. With these new technolo- gies, we will also have to contend with new crimes." Formosa cites the possibility of a combination of hacking and opti- cal technology, that could (for ar- gument's sake) simulate a virtual attack on a person, that could eas- ily be mistaken for a real physical assault. "I see this happening in the near future. The technology is already available, and will be mainstream in two or three years' time. We're already talking about virtual crime. Very soon, we will be talk- ing about 'augmented reality' crime. Are the police prepared? Of course not. We have problems as things stand with definitions of traditional crimes, such as theft. What is the technical definition of pickpocketing, for instance? It may seem obvious to people out there, but in a context where crimes have to be proven in a court of law, the actual definitions need to be sound. Just imagine how much harder it is to define crimes which haven't yet been invented… which are evolving in step with new technologies…" Interview Few areas are more fraught with misconceptions than the criminal underworld. Criminologist Prof. Saviour Formosa dispels some popular flawed perceptions... including that Malta's crime rate is on the increase misconceptions