Think Reports To Malta’s Police Over Noisy Late-Night Neighbours Are Ignored? These Figures Seem To Prove It
Ever feel like your reports to the police over rowdy neighbours playing loud music into the early hours of the morning get ignored? Well, some figures seem to prove that’s the case.
Following a parliamentary question by Graziella Galea, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri revealed figures on the number of reports police receive due to excessive noise – and the numbers are concerning.
Somehow, the number of reports on excessive noise, particularly in terms of loud music, rarely went over single digits for an 18-month period between January 2021 and June 2022 in the majority of localities across Malta and Gozo.
Meanwhile, tourism areas, which often face the largest burdens of excessive noise, recorded surprisingly low figures.
Malta’s capital, Valletta, saw the largest number of reports, 31, of excessive noise between early 2021 and June 2022, with just 14 occurring after 11pm.
Sliema and St Julian’s, two major tourism zones, also recorded concerning figures.
St Julian’s received around 28 reports, with just 10 coming after 11pm, while Sliema recorded 24, with just eight occurring late at night.
St Paul’s Bay, which is Malta’s largest locality, also saw low figures. It received just 15 reports of excessive noise because of loud music and only two were after 11pm.
While Malta does not have a law against noise pollution, legal notices have laid some ground rules, limiting it to 11pm.
Bars and restaurants in tourism zones do have some extensions to 1am. Still, neighbours often take their parties home, leaving other residents scrambling to call up the police to take action.
If these figures are any indication, it seems that it would count for practically nought.
Have you ever filed a report over noisy neighbours?
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