One cannot go into specific cases if they are still sub judice, meaning that one cannot discuss the merits of a particular case if it is still in court, so we will not.

But what we will most definitely do is look into the issue of doormen, bouncers, or as they are constantly incorrectly called in Malta – bodyguards. It is an interesting anomaly; any time a so called bouncer is taken to court, they are charged with acting as so without a relevant licence.

So the questions to be asked here are; is there such a thing as a bouncers’ (doorman, whatever you want to call them) licence? If so, how do you get one? What are the criteria for getting one? What training must you have? What standards are employed? And IF – a big IF – the actual licence exists, what powers does it give a person?

Paceville is what it is... the product of years of lax licence issuing to places of entertainment. As a result, we have a hotchpotch nightlife area filled with bars, pubs, clubs, fast food joints, off licences, cinemas, shopping centres, wine bars, beach, beach bars and very sadly, a few houses where mainly elderly people had purchased a summer residence in years gone by.

It is a notoriously difficult place to police – mostly because the whole area has been built around a maze of streets, so by the time the police’s attention is brought to something, it has often ended before they get there; or people simply scatter and run.

Paceville, like it or not, is a booze bin. Many people tend to take out their weeklong frustration by hitting the clubs and drinking themselves into oblivion. This is not always the case of course, and it would be wrong to tar everyone with the same brush. But by and large, and put very simply, people go to Paceville to get hammered. You don’t go there for a walk or a quiet bottle of wine in a summer breeze – you go there to drink and drink heavily.

Hence, the need for doormen. One could not imagine the chaos if clubs and pubs were to do away with security personnel – the law of the jungle would perhaps be apt to describe the potential situation if this were so.

But, we go back to the questions we asked earlier. Is there such a thing as a licensed bouncer? As we have already mentioned, the need to have them is amply clear. But the relevant authority should revise its standards and ensure that people who are employed at the door are professional and up to standard. We would also ask what criteria one should have to be a security guard at a night club – or is a 22 inch neck the base of it all?

One is sure that the patience of these doormen is tested every time they are on duty – but does this not mean that they need training? We do not mean physical training either. The fact that they are big and strong is enough for anyone to see. But what training do they have in, for example, helping a person who might have suffered an asthma attack, a drug overdose, an epileptic fit, or God forbid a severed artery after a fight. What fire safety qualifications do these people have? What if a fire was to break out and a place needed evacuating. This is not fantasy – many people have lost their lives in clubs that have burned to the ground in countries with far stricter health and safety laws than we do.

But most importantly – what psychological training do these people have to deal with a situation where a drunkard who has been refused entry starts to swear at them? More often than not, and this is well documented, such people (who are of course wrong for what they have done) tend to get a good left hook to the face before being throw to the other side of the street. This is the reality of the situation. It surely needs to be checked.