Government studying possibility of opening regional Police stations

Local police stations could soon be replaced by larger regional stations, home affairs minister Manuel Mallia said this evening in Parliament.

The minister that the government is considering closing small Police Stations in the majority of localaities that are sometimes manned by a handful of officers. Subject to a study being carried out, these stations could be replaced by larger stations which are manned by more officers and which would be in a position to deploy officers from the rapid intervention unit.

Moreover, Mallia said the police were also studying the possibility of opening a police station in Swieqi which faces a number of problems related to the nearby Paceville which recieves thousands of revellers on a weekly basis.

Furthermore, more Police officers will be put on the beat in "sensitive areas" such as Swieqi, Marsa and Hamrun, Mallia said.

He also announced that a bill to set up a union for Police Officers had been presented to the Cabinet of Ministers, and the government would soon be in a position to move its proposal forward.

Replying to a Parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi, the minister said that further studies were being carried out and advice on specific points had been sought from the Attorney General.

Mallia said that the "setting up of a union for the police and other disciplined bodies had been promised in the Labour Party's electoral programme and this promise will be kept."

The home affairs minister also said that the persons appointed on the Police Negotiations Board would be announced in the coming days.

Replying to a question on transfers within the Corps, Mallia accused Azzopardi of being an "armchair critic" who did not realise that transfers were being carried out according to the exigencies of the Police corps.