Policemen drinking in uniform, on duty, in a Paceville bar
What a shame that the person who filmed this with his phone was too frightened to go right up to them and film their numbers.
Police officers get away with this blatant abuse only because Maltese citizens are afraid of them, when in a developed democracy it would be the other way round.
The only way to stop policemen drinking on duty, and getting over-familiar with the very bar-owners they are supposed to police, is to photograph them in the act and publish the photographs.
Right now, they’re doing it because they can. If they know they’re going to be photographed, and that the photographs will be published, they won’t dare sink to this level of abuse.
It’s too much to hope that some of the detritus in our police force will understand the ethical, moral and disciplinary reasons why they shouldn’t do it. They’re not going to see the light.
But the fear of public exposure, and of the Police Commissioner getting to see the photographs, will work in a way that an appeal to reason will not.
I no longer go to Paceville bars; it’s not my place to do so. But I know that lots of you do, so when you see a policeman drinking or behaving badly, take pictures and email them to me at [email protected] and I’ll upload them here. If you can’t photograph their number, try and get it all the same and jot it down.
If they threaten you, take even more pictures, and quote the law at them: in Malta, it’s not against the law to photograph policemen in uniform. But it is against the law for the policemen who have been photographed to request you to delete the images and threaten you if you don’t.
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They could be acting as double agents sort of.
The police cannot use entrapment to catch illegal smokers, if that’s what you mean.
I meant a smoking hot prostitute in a fetish scenario, which would not necessarily be entrapment.
Photographing policemen doing what they shouldn’t be doing or being improperly dressed while on duty could very well risk being threatened to erase the evidence because that would be in breach of privacy laws and data protection.
[Daphne – It is not, in fact, Dr Saliba. Police officers wear their numbers precisely so that citizens can identify them and report them when they break the law, among other reasons. The advent of the smartphone camera simply makes it possible for those citizens to back up their reports with evidence. A policeman drinking in uniform is not covered by data protection rules, just as a policeman beating up somebody is not. Police officers are not private citizens.]
And if you demur you would be accused of obstructing the police. I know. It actually happened to me. I must admit, however, that the camera was not shot out of my hands.
[Daphne – I am quite happy to give the police hell and pay the price. I’m damned if I’ll let them get away with it.]
I did lodge a complaint with the Commissioner of Police, in writing when a motor cycle traffic policeman handed me a parking parking ticket for letting down an embarking tourist at the airport, myself remaining strapped in the driver’s seat, waiting for the return of my wife.
I left the spot promptly as soon as ordered leaving my wife stranded only to be followed by the motorcycle policeman until I reached a quiet spot a few hundred metres further on, waved to a stop and mocked that ” I did not please him”. After a fruitless inspection of the car for some possible infringement I was handed a parking ticket for letting down a passenger at a recognised drop/pick up point and from which I had departed as soon as told to move on!
My official complaint led to a series of unkept “urgent” appointments with a police inspector and a belated inexplicable rejection of my report. Never again will I report an abuse as long as complaints of abuses against the police continue to be dealt with departmentally by fellow police officers.
For those not “in the know”, the way to “please” some savvy traffic policemen is to have a disposable currency note in the driving licence when the licence is demanded by them, and not to expect that it will be still there when the driving licence is returned.
What a difference from the days of de Gray as Commissioner of Police!
Dr Saliba, that policeman must have been nasty and lacking compassion and understanding. How could the police command respect if they behave in this manner?
In the US the new trend is for police officers to stop citizens from filming them, especially if they’re being abusive, such as beating the crap out of a modern Rodney King, which these days is happily allowed.
But that’s all in the future for the Bebbuxerija Maltija. We currently simply discuss 20th century questions with the panache of knowledgable futurists.
I have seen policemen drinking, smoking and chatting up strippers at a Lap-dancing place in Paceville.
Most of these places employ Romanian women, although Romanian citizens have restrictions on employment in Malta.
I have always suspected that many of these clubs employ trafficked women. There is a notorious apartment block in St.Julian’s where Romanian thugs control the women who live there. Remember the Romanian thug accused of killing that African immigrant in Paceville?
Five years ago I lost my ID card and had to go to the ID card office for replacement. I had to take the oath by kissing the cross. The police woman who was administering the oath began blaspheming against the Mother of God (though not because of anything I had done). I was shocked. I felt insulted even if it was not aimed at me.
I forgot to mention that I still have the receipt this police woman gave me, with her signature and date. I had to pay a small fee for the privilege of taking an oath.
This woman should not be allowed to handle religious objects, she handed me the cross to kiss.
I do not understand how the ‘Commissioner’ allows his police thugs to continue their shenanigans, unless he condones it.
Is it only the ones who get ‘caught’ in public who are disciplined?
In the many countries in which I have lived, the police are respected and, even, revered. In Malta, I have seen nothing but disrespect, and ridicule (witness the number of reports of them being beaten up by common citizens).
Something is amiss – education? Background? Political leanings? Je ne sais quoi.
I hope you realise you’re treading dangerous ground here.
You’re right in saying that members of the police force should behave impeccably while on duty.
Whipping up a “campaign” – which someone with your clout can do at the drop of a hat – is not quite right, though.
To begin with, the vast majority of people reading your blog can’t do much about correcting “wrongs”. They will just start collecting misdemeanours and exchanging anecdotes – some of which will be made up, as always happens.
This will transform the way certain people look at the police force. At present it’s something that can and should be improved. If your idea takes off, some people may begin thinking that the force is just another govt department composed entirely of layabouts and Pharisees and hey will begin to look upon it with (misplaced) disdain.
In case you were wondering, I’m not a member of the force nor am I related or know anybody who is.
[Daphne – I can’t agree with you, Reuben. The only check on police abuse is public scrutiny, and that only where public opinion matters. Where it doesn’t matter, as in Malta in the 1970s and 1980s, not even public scrutiny will help.]
Just to clarify is taking a photograph and filming seen as the same under Maltese law?
[Daphne – Yes.]
May a policeman smoke while on duty?
The Police are not supposed to do anything while on duty except policing the society, which is their obligation.
But in Malta they are allowed to smoke, drink, work as bouncers, chat with lap dancers and are also allowed to have their own business, which is totally wrong.
Il-huta minn rasha tinten. The reason why our police force is in shambles is because the present Commissioner is not the right man for the job.
He was just chosen to placate Labour. In fact few complaints come the Labour side.
I know better times for the force when policemen were forbidden even to enter a coffee shop let alone being drunk and mixing with disreputable elements in Paceville.