We believe in a merciful God of forgiveness who, nevertheless, punishes evil with unforgiving severity on the day of reckoning.

Civil society is not God and, when dispensing justice, it is liable to human error. However, in a world of greed, violence and all sorts of evil, it has to balance its qualities of mercy with due regard to the victims of evil.

When dealing with criminals, civil society is expected to give redress to the victims of crime and to be solicitous of their interests and their dignity, at least in equal measure with the consideration it gives to those of criminals.

Dignity of human persons

Christian civilisation lays stress on reverence for Man – all human beings. Everyone is expected to consider his every neighbour as another self, taking into account, first of all, his life and the means necessary to live it with dignity.

The document on “The Community of Mankind”, approved by the Second Vatican Council, stated: “Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or wilful self-destruction; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as sub-human living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution as well as disgraceful working conditions where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons – all these things ,and others of their like, are infamies indeed.”

Such infamies must, at all costs, be restrained. The victims deserve the full protection of the law, and the perpetrators must be punished, at least by making good for the harm they do to others.

It is the responsibility of the forces of law and order, and of those who guide them, to see that good order is maintained and fair justice meted out.

This does not always seem to be the case. Criminals are at times seen to be feather-bedded in circumstances that perplex public opinion. In other cases, criminals seem to literally get away with murder, or with other crimes that cry to the high heavens for justice. Far too many have got off scot-free with their ill-gotten gains, notwithstanding the establishment of special tribunals against corruption and injustice.

Notwithstanding the ringing words of the Constitution, justice is not regularly dispensed in due time – and justice delayed is justice denied.

Swing of the pendulum

In more recent years, the pendulum seems to have tilted against the forces of law and order

Criminality has risen, in some cases dramatically. This is so in the case of drug-related crime, manifesting itself in theft, sometimes aggravated by violence. The number of hold-ups is on the rise.

All of this raises the legitimate question as to whether the Police Force is adequately manned and equipped to meet the exigencies of modern times.

The most frequently asked questions are the following: Why isn’t there a police presence in certain sensitive locations any more? Why are so many police stations closed or poorly manned? Why are the combined forces and the police and armed forces unable to exercise tight control on all sea approaches to the Maltese Islands – to the point that on various occasions, boatloads of illegal immigrants sailed into Maltese waters, and landed in Malta and Gozo, without being seen?

Since accession to the European Union, Malta has assumed responsibility for guarding the EU’s southernmost frontier. Brussels has a stake in Malta’s ability to perform its role with the required efficiency against international criminality.

It is often said that the mills of justice tend to grind slowly. Law-abiding Maltese citizens may tend to be impatient when the mills appear to grind unbearably slowly.

They are bound to be alarmed when they realise that the mills they own do not grind at all.

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