“It seems that we have to deal with a crime that was not common in Malta but which is now more frequent,” he told the media during a press conference held at police headquarters.
The police have already charged 14 people this year with pickpocketing offences. Mr Rizzo said the pickpockets are mostly from Eastern European countries, Bulgaria in particular.
These people usually work in twos and are often accompanied by children. They go to crowded areas such as open markets where committing this type of crime is easier and, in fact, many people do not notice that they have been robbed until they want to pay for something and discover that their purse or wallet has been stolen.
Most reports on pickpocketing offences have been made in Valletta, Vittoriosa and Sliema said Mr Rizzo, adding that the Maltese should be made aware of this problem because it is a growing phenomenon.
What is worse is that, unless such criminal activity is curbed, tourism could be affected. “We do not want Malta to be labelled as a place where tourists are robbed by pickpockets,” he said.
The police have mounted surveillance in areas where pickpocketing reports have been lodged, and have managed to catch a few of the thieves. However, the language barrier was a problem when it came to delving deeper, and those arrested did not cooperate much.
Mr Rizzo called for harsher penalties from the courts for people found guilty of pickpocketing charges so that this may serve as a deterrent. His urge for the courts to be stricter in their sentencing extended to other crimes, including theft and loitering for prostitution.
“The police go to great pains to bring a valid case before the courts but then feel demoralised and demotivated when the courts give light sentences or, worse still, give offenders too many chances to rehabilitate themselves,” Mr Rizzo said.
The Police Commissioner added that throughout the summer, the police have been very active in controlling petty thefts, particularly from beaches. “It was impossible to cover all the beaches around Malta and Gozo, but we were quite successful in catching a number of petty thieves. With our presence on the beaches, we probably prevented more thefts from taking place.”
Mr Rizzo said that the growing number of illegal immigrants was putting extra strain on the police corps. With the barracks run by the Armed Forces of Malta having reached saturation point, some of the illegal immigrants are now being kept at the Ta’ Kandja barracks, run by the police.
At present, there are over 1,000 illegal immigrants being kept by the AFM and the police in open and detention centres. “We are now looking for more places where illegal immigrants can be accommodated if the problem gets worse,” he said.
Mr Rizzo said that the Homicide Squad, recently set up in the Criminal Investigation Depart-ment, was an idea that has worked extremely well over the past months. The recent arraignment of three men charged with a murder committed in 1989 was proof of its success.
He said that murder is the most heinous of crimes, and cases that are not solved are never closed. Sometimes, changing the officer responsible for a case allows the police to look at it from a fresh angle, and this often leads to a positive outcome.
There are other as yet unsolved murders that could be solved shortly, Mr Rizzo said. Today, improvements in technology give police a better chance of solving cases. “In the past, we used to rely only on fingerprints. Today, there are various other means, including DNA,” he said.