Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/667669
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 APRIL 2016 4 News animal welfare newspaper.indd 3 15/04/2016 4:28 PM Domestic violence, sex offence police reports on the rise TIM DIACONO POLICE received 1,205 reports on domestic violence last year, an in- crease of 7% over the previous year. These reports were evenly split between cases of physical violence (47%) and psychological violence (45%). The figures, compiled by crimi- nologist Saviour Formosa, also show that 124 sexual offence cases were reported to the police last year, a 22% increase over the previous year. However, the actual crime rate is likely to be much higher – as cases of domestic abuse and sexual offence remain unreported to the police. "Sex offences are among the most hidden crimes in Malta," assistant police commissioner Neville Aqui- lina told a press conference at the home affairs ministry. "The majority of such cases stem from family mem- bers, meaning that there is a high lev- el of sensitivity to this phenomenon." Formosa urged the public to devel- op a higher sense of personal respon- sibility in reporting and mitigating crimes, noting that several cases of domestic abuse and sexual offences remain unreported. "Some people report sexual of- fences to priests, rather than to the police," the criminologist said. "It is high time that the focus on crime move away from the perception that the police are solely responsible for the mitigation of crime. "The essential aspects that will piv- ot towards offence mitigation lies in the enhancement of social cohesion through awareness raising, values re- definition, self-respect and the will to report and stop offences." He admitted that such cultural pro- gress would require a "sea change" in both the police force, enforcement agencies, and civil society through NGOs and self-help groups. The criminologist's call on the pub- lic for greater social responsibility was backed by home affairs minister Carmelo Abela. "While the police certainly have a central role to play, the social ele- ment in countering crime remains crucial," he said, calling for more awareness campaigns on domestic violence. The university's criminology de- partment will in the coming months publish the results of an analysis into 1,000 crime victims who choose not to file police reports, in an attempt to understand this "dark figure of crime". Pickpocketing shoots up but residence theft down Formosa's compiled data show that 17,138 offences were reported to the police last year, an increase of 490 cases when compared to the previ- ous year. This was chiefly due to a surge in pickpocketing, that increased by 492 offences in 2015 – up by 32% over the previous year. "This offence has become the single tsunami surge in Maltese reporting, comprising 2,030 instances last year when compared to 450 reports in 2009," he said. Conversely, theft from residences dropped dramatically – from 932 re- ports in 2014 to 712 in 2015, a statis- tic that was pounced on by Carmelo Abela. "I hope that the Opposition doesn't use the overall rise in reports to try and turn crime into a political foot- ball," he said. "Residence theft, the most personal sort of robbery, de- clined significantly last year." Elsewhere, police received 192 drug reports, a decline of 21% over the previous year. Prostitution decreased by 41% to 123 cases. St. Julian's retained its notorious spot as Malta's crime capital, fol- lowed by fellow tourist destinations Mdina, Valletta, Floriana and Sliema in terms of crimes per capita. 'Presumptuous to quantify effect of drugs, prostitution on economy' Formosa's presentation was launched in the wake of a Times of Malta report that cited National Sta- tistics Office figures as claiming that drugs and prostitution contributed €24 million to the economy last year. When questioned by MaltaToday, Aquilina said that they would have to analyze the formula used by the NSO to obtain its result. "It's a well-known fact that drugs and prostitution generate a lot of money," he said. "However, this dark figure of crime is impossible to quan- tify so it would be presumptuous of me to say whether the NSO's num- bers are accurate or not." Some people report sexual offences to priests, rather than to the police Criminologist Saviour Formosa's annual crime report statistics was presented to the press in the presence of home affairs minister Carmelo Abela