It is very important that our Police Commissioner, in association with his court advisers, determines once and for all the policy to be adopted by the police in relation to Matrimonial Reports: I refer to those reports made by either of the spouses at police stations or direct at Police General Headquarters that relate to the newly established Criminal Family Court.

There seem to be different policies adopted by different police stations or different Inspectors, or different Superintendents, in different police districts, when an interested party in a matrimonial dispute lodges a of a police station.

It is not the first time that in a particular case, involving the same couple, one of the parties lodges a report and the police appear to take immediate action even though it eventually results that the other side was making a mountain out of a mole hill; whereas when the other interested party involving the same couple makes a report at the same police station, another police officer states that the police will not get involved in matrimonial reports of a civil nature!

It is important that police districts and whoever is in charge of them and the various officers involved, who are authorised to take reports made at police stations, have a clear guideline and a clearly established policy as to which reports to accept or not accept: for example in other incidences it is not the first time that people who make reports go to the police station and are told that they cannot collect their own report unless a letter is sent by their law consultant; while in other instances persons lodging a report are provided with a report directly by the officer-in-charge at the particular police station.

I personally verified this fact and was told that the police have instructions that whoever lodges a report is entitled to ask for and obtain a copy of the report lodged without further ado.

However, it does happen sometimes in certain police stations that these reports are not provided outright, notwithstanding the fact that the police have been informed that there appears to be a directive issued by the top brass at Police Headquarters states that anyone lodging a report is entitled to be provided with a copy of that report.

It is very clear in a number of circumstances that a timely intervention by the police on certain occasions might easily clear the air if there is a misunderstanding between the matrimonial couple involved. Such a policy would help in no small way to maybe keep a case from ending up unnecessarily before the courts, which usually implies a lot of administrative work for the police as well as the Criminal Courts.

Hence, it is of the utmost importance that, in light of the setting up of the Criminal Family Court, and considering that we happen to have the same Minister, both for the Interior and for matters that relate to Justice, some sort of legal infrastructure is established so that cases can be analysed early enough to prevent unnecessary cases from dragging on before our newly appointed Criminal Family Court.

This will allow the court to dedicate its time to cases that really need its attention, and focused on such cases that relate to access to minor children, or issues that may relate to maintenance where minor children particularly are involved.

It is obvious, considering the complexities of the issues, that the police must formulate a clear policy as to when and how to intervene in issues that relate to reports made by spouses at police stations. In this way we will not have, as apparently is the current situation, one police district deciding one way on a matter with another police district taking a completely different decision on the same matter.

This is not in anyway to fault the energetic efforts and hard work of the Commissioner of Police to coordinate these delicate matters better, but to bring to the attention to the authorities-that-be the need for all of us to become more professional and efficient in matters that relate to the most important democracy in a liberal democracy, namely the family.

Emmy D. Bezzina

VALLETTA