Watch: Joe Giglio Calls For Army To Carry Out Roadblocks And Give Police A Helping Hand
With the Malta Police Force facing a staff shortage, PN MP Joe Giglio has proposed roping the army in to give them a helping hand on tasks such as carrying out roadblocks.
“One might recall that way back, the army had a role that related a lot to drug trafficking, they used to organise roadblocks and help in the enforcing of our laws,” Giglio said in an interview with Lovin Malta. “The idea would be to create a unit within the army that could help in this regard.”
“People tried to spin this proposal around in a different way but it’s absolutely not the case. Until we beef up our police force and find new recruits – because unfortunately, we’re not finding enough recruits – we could possibly use other entities like the army to help in law enforcement.”
Giglio had initially proposed giving the army a “more active role” in law enforcement following a recent street fight in Ħamrun.
However, he made it clear that he isn’t advocating the deployment of the army to break up street fights, but the use of soldiers as auxiliary resources for roadblocks and drug trafficking surveillance.
Giglio also agreed that police should be better armed with Tasers and pepper spray, a proposal recently floated by his PN colleague Adrian Delia.
“The police force, in general, is going through a very difficult time,” he said. “Now we’re not saying they should be better armed in order to use arms, but only to feel that they can resort to these issues whenever they feel threatened.”
However, he added that investment in the police shouldn’t stop at handing them out weapons but at educating them on how to use them, as well as more specific education on interpersonal skills.
Cover photo: Left: PN MP Joe Giglio, Right: Soldiers of the AFM – photo: Armed Forces of Malta
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