They couldn't wait for liberalisation
Somewhere beneath my previous post, a former senior police officer is insisting that decriminalising the sale of hard and soft drugs will lead to a fall in use. Yes, that’s right. Here are four of his former colleagues who couldn’t wait.
The Times, Friday, August 29, 2008
Four police officers to face drug possession charge
Four police officers are expected to be arraigned in the coming days over drug possession. Two of the officers, who are sergeants, were at the centre of an investigation and were found to be in possession of a small amount of cannabis when their homes in Senglea were raided. They were both suspended and criminal proceedings against them have already started. In two other separate cases, a constable working at the police headquarters got reported to her superiors after she bragged that she had been doing some designer drugs at a party. She resigned along with another 23-year-old constable who was arrested during the recent Santa Marija raids at a party in Rabat.Both the officers “admitted to having abused of illicit drugs while not on duty and criminal charges have been instituted against them,” a spokesman for the police said.
You know, what really astounds me is not the fact that they had a small amount of cannabis or that this silly woman was boasting about doing ‘designer drugs’, but that they actually don’t seem to realise the implications of being a police officer. They seem to think that it’s just another job, and that they can behave like everybody else – all the clerks and the drivers and the receptionists who pop an E on weekends. Some soldiers apparently think the same way, too. Once upon a time, police officers and soldiers wore their uniform with pride and commanded respect. Now it’s just another job to pay the bills. The soldiers are scared of doing their duty in case they get hurt (why become a soldier, then?) and the new police recruits want to smoke joints while off-duty, while pursuing and prosecuting others who do the same. We can lay responsibility for this degradation at Mintoff’s door. The only authority he respected was his own. Mintoff started the rot and nobody could stop it, because it’s a problem of mentality, and that’s one of the most difficult things to change.
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Daphne, you couldn’t have put it better. I think it’s clear for everyone to understand.
don’t think you can put this on Mintoff’s doorstep. It’s just the general trend happening worldwide starting in the 60’s (well in Malta it started maybe in the 70’s – 80’s). If you see SkyNews frequently you would think twice about going to he UK. There’s a breakdown of order in society. Things will get worse.
If drugs were legalised, traffickers would no longer go to prison, of course, so they must really be rooting for Kev.
Years ago there was an article on a local paper which described drug-running as a “victimless crime” and was generally sympathetic to a notorious drug baron (ah, those cliches so beloved by AS). The lady who wrote it – and who now lives abroad – was later interrogated by the police though I can’t remember all the details. Kev might recall them though, as ex-cop.
Mario P.
It is definitely due to Mintoff’s way of crushing whatever stood in his way to achieve his goals. Perhaps you do not remember the degenerating respect towards authorities or non-authorities alike, that dared to contradict or complain against his policies; e.g. the outright hatred instigated against the church, Birindelli, the Rediffusion. But even then, the thugging and beating of school teachers in 1984 is not very far to forget. Do you think that this has not brought about a long term effect in ethical rspect or rather lack of it?
Can we trust anyone?
@lino – it happens that I do remember and very well too and can add to your list BUT that was 20 odd years ago – a new generation has grown up since then who do not recollect or were burdened with those trying times. My point in the earlier post was that it is a general breakdown of order in society which is to blame and not a single politician – you give him too much credit!
New police recruits might not know their P’s from their Q’s when it comes to self-respect and the responibilities attached to their uniform, but the blame for that I lay fairly and squarely on the interviewing boards and those who established the (minimal to the point of ridicule) entry requirements in the first place. Nowadays it’s far easier to join the corps than to get a clerical job! In days not long past the village policeman was up there, with the pharmacist and the doctor, the notary and the parish priest. The sieve being used nowadays has holes far too big, I fear, to ensure correct choices all round. How many fail from police academy, I wonder, after their applications sporting a couple (or three?) “O” levels would have been accepted?
What worries me even more, however, are the two police sergeants who got caught out with cannabis. These I doubt very much are “new police recruits”, Daph. I wonder whether they had to pay for the drug or whether it was obtained gratis as one of the “perks of the job”. Now THAT’S a point worth pondering.
http://www.corriere.it/cronache/08_agosto_26/guardie_regina_elisabetta_drogate_londra_cfbbfeaa-7373-11dd-95d1-00144f02aabc.shtml
In my view, our police force is a disaster and needs to be reformed completely inside out.
Shapes of things to come.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6CkltzGAxY