The more time goes by, the more evident it becomes that Malta does have a problem with vandals.

We have heard of the various degrees of damage caused to national monuments, such as the pre-historic temples, Portes des Bombes, the Salib tal-Gholja edifice and many others.

The government has rightly installed closed circuit television cameras around some of the monuments, while others are now to be enclosed to prevent similar incidents. But it is becoming quite apparent that there is a growing culture of vandalism in this country.

The latest event was one concerning the traffic management system on the Regional Road bridge. For reasons only known to them, some irresponsible people decided to smash all the lights (which are of course there for motorists’ safety) which lead up to the roadwork.

One simply cannot expect the government to install CCTV cameras at every corner. First of all it would cause public outcry, and secondly it would be far too expensive to do so.

So what is to be done? First of all, we must find out what motivates such attacks. Sometimes it is revenge (primarily against the authorities), but other times it is simply senseless acts of vandalism.

Unfortunately, one would have to point the finger at sections of the younger population. We have seen it happen time and time again – excesses of alcohol, drugs and sometimes sheer boredom drive youths to carry out such acts.

One cannot understand the motivation that drives people to carry out such actions. Let us make no mistake – this is not a problem isolated to Malta alone, it happens all over the world.

Perhaps the biggest surge in vandalism is that of graffiti. One might forgive it at the unofficial skater park at the University roundabout. Ask many people and they will probably tell you that they don’t mind it at all as it is in a contained area and the “art” that is sprayed onto the walls is of quite high quality.

But one would have to draw the line at daubing people’s houses with spray paint. This is becoming more and more evident in Malta. Again, the finger must be pointed at youngsters.

So, with this particular problem – might shop owners be better off self regulating? One would have to ask why a young teenager would walk into a shop and purchase about five different coloured spray cans of paint. Might it be wise for the shop owner to question his (or her) motives?

What is sure is that vandalism (as is littering) is a punishable crime. One big problem that we have in this country is that people are reluctant to come forward and report things they have seen others do. Perhaps if we start from there – giving the authorities a tip-off, we can give them a chance to catch those responsible.

Secondly, there need to be stiffer penalties. We have seen that small fines are not enough to discourage people from littering. The fines increased in size and people started to look for dustbins rather than simply throwing things on the floor.

Unfortunately, such acts are signs of a diseased society. Normal people do not go round smashing things up and spraying paint all over the place – much less damaging national monuments. Youth gets the blame for a lot of things in life, and one cannot tar everyone with the same brush (sic), but we hope that the increasing violence, vandalism and downright petty crimes being perpetrated by the younger generation are not signs of things to come.