Saw this article about 8 Italian police officers being brought in to help patrol tourist hotspots in Malta like Paceville, St Julian’s, and Valletta. They’re in uniform but unarmed and don’t actually have any powers to arrest people. Theyre just here to assist Maltese police and help Italian tourists.
Apparently, it’s part of some bigger cooperation agreement between the two countries, mostly about sharing knowledge and training, but they’re specifically targeting areas with a lot of rowdy nightlife. Paceville especially has had loads of fights and brawls recently, so maybe this is meant to calm things down during peak tourist season.
What’s weird is the political reaction, some people are saying it’s a slap in the face to Malta’s own police and even a blow to national sovereignty. Others are saying it’s totally normal and part of modern policing.
Not gonna lie, feels a bit strange to have foreign police casually patrolling your streets, but also… if it helps, it helps?
Here’s the article if you want to read it.
🇮🇹 Italian police officers drafted in to help patrol Malta’s nightlife hotspots. Smart move?
byu/Striking_Truck_8998 inmalta
Posted by Striking_Truck_8998
7 Comments
I dont think this is the first time if it is true but I was once told that the Maltese police were assisted by the North Korean ones once
This is a little problematic in my view. It shows that we don’t have the resources to deal with a problem, that the problem is real and that a specific population is a big part of it. It also means that the authorities have no idea how to solve the problem from happening. Policing is proven to work, and having policing that can understand those misbehaving might make it more effective. Consequences need to follow. But this is a band-aid solution. Better quality tourists need to be attracted, we’ve been focusing on quantity so quality is horrible.
There is also the sovereignty argument. The Austrio-Hungarian empire went to war with Serbia because they demanded policing and Serbia refused to have their sovereignty diluted. Our police force is capitulating and showing they cannot control the situation anymore. They are not the ones causing rhe problem, it is a consequence of a long chain of terrible decisions fueled by greed.
I think this helps to solve some problems that some quality* Italian tourists create. They might react differently to seeing the police from their country in Malta as well.
Personally I think the way they are being used is bad. I would prefer to see them on cases, where potentially an enforcement agent is susceptible to being bribed or potentially in cases where Maltese people close an eye due to knowing the person.
I would think of drug busts or organised crime cases. The police coming from abroad would know they are being used in this way, so I would assume they would be more cautious of being bribed. Coming from Italy I would assume they have more experience in dealing with organised crime cases (I would actually bring specifically police from that area). The use of police in this way I think helps because it avoids familiarity.
# Summary of Maltese Police Abroad
|Mission Type|Destinations / Partners|Role & Example|
|:-|:-|:-|
|UN Conference (Nice)|France|Crowd control, bomb-threat response, joint patrols[Malta Daily](https://maltadaily.mt/maltese-police-assist-during-united-nations-conference/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) |
|Europol Joint Action Day|EU-wide|[Malta Daily](https://maltadaily.mt/maltese-police-arrest-14-in-joint-europol-operation/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)Coordinated crime operation with Romanian, Spanish, Bulgarian police, etc. |
|Italian Police Support|Italy → Malta|[Times of Malta](https://timesofmalta.com/article/italian-police-officers-drafted-maintain-order-tourist-hotspots.1113425?utm_source=chatgpt.com)%5BMaltaToday.com.mt%5D(https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/136099/pn_slams_italian_police_patrols_as_certificate_of_government_failure?utm_source=chatgpt.com)Unarmed Italian officers patrolling tourist areas with Maltese officers; Maltese maintain executive control |
|Cyber Crime Operations|EU-member states|[Times of Malta](https://timesofmalta.com/article/malta-police-taking-part-in-european-cyber-crime-operation.641343?utm_source=chatgpt.com)[The Dispatch](https://cde.news/malta-among-countries-participating-in-europewide-police-operation-against-depictions-of-child-sexual-abuse/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)Maltese Cyber Crime Unit participating under Europol coordination |
What the public doesn’t know is that this thing happens frequently in different law enforcement agencies.
The Army does it, so do Maltese policemen go abroad, and also Customs. I think even firefighters get training/work exp abroad with other European agencies, but I’m not sure.
Working with an outside agency is an opportunity to learn as a guest and as a host.
You really think 8 police officers are going to do some change in the volume of work done? If we imported permanently 500 or a 1000, I’d say wow we have a problem, but its 8 fkn persons. Madonna x’ghageb
Official figures reported that **around 400 Maltese personnel** were deployed over a recent three‑year period to operations in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Serbia – so what?
For me, this is just the PN trying to alienate the public from whatever fuckup their leader race is. (On FB it was mostly PN people making a mountain out of a molehill from this)
Exchange programmes are in place all over the world. The AFM do it, Civil Protection do it, Civil servants do it, why not Police Officers too?
As noted they are there to support the local police and have no powers to arrest, etc.
These areas are known for being very troublesome for as long as I can remember so any extra security to keep things safe is better.
It’s not an insult to the local force.
Also law enforcement from many countries help out each other and cross train.