Mellieħa Residents Given Mobile Numbers Of Their Cops In Community Policing Project
Mellieħa residents have been given the personal mobile numbers of four police officers as part of a community policing pilot project.
The project is intended to provide reassurance to Mellieħa residents that police are patrolling the streets and clamping down on crime and to encourage them to form a direct relationship with their officers.
Four police officers have been assigned to this project, with PS Gabria Gatt leading the team, PC Charles Azzopardi Refalo focusing on the centre of Mellieħa, PC Morgan Cassar Bonnici focusing on the south and PC Clayton Scicluna focusing on the north and east.
The four community police officers
The team of police officers will be based at a office within the Mellieħa local council.
Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia said the government decided to launch this project shortly after the 2017 election, after which months of preparation, training and consultation took place. He said that the Mellieħa pilot project will be assessed in six months’ time, after which it could well be expanded to other towns.
However, PN MP Robert Cutajar noted he had proposed such a project back in February 2018 as part of a local council reform but that the government had shot it down.
https://www.facebook.com/R0BERT.CUTAJAR/photos/a.716343438387751/2440652179290193/?type=3&theater
Although he wasn’t invited to the launch at the Mellieħa local council, he turned up anyway, accusing the government of playing partisan politics over such an important project.
What do you think of this initiative? Let us know in the comments below
READ NEXT: Maltese Officer To Compete At World Police And Fire Games In China Later This Month
