The decision by the police to revoke their request for the names of songs to be performed during Carnival cannot be commended, simply because it should never have happened in the first place.

Carnival, if one looks into the history of it, was a safety valve in times long gone before the arduous Lenten period. It was a short period of revelry before 40 days of fasting and religious observation.

If one were to transpose that to today, it would not work – people are simply not as religious and indoctrinated as in the past. But nonetheless, Carnival is still a safety vent. It is a time of the year when people take a short break to recharge their batteries and enjoy the satire of life. 2009, of course, saw the arrest of people dressed up as Jesus Christ and nuns, on the grounds that this was offensive.

This year, the police decided that they would demand the list of acts to be played during the Gozo Carnival to ensure that no offence was made to anyone. First of all, the request was downright stupid because one cannot tell the lyrics of a song by its title.

What about songs (taken randomly) such as I used to love her by Guns N’ Roses, God save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, Hot Dog by Limpbizkit... would anyone imagine – just from the title – that the first is about killing a woman, the second is a tirade against the UK with swearing galore while the third is simply a futile exercise in effing and blinding.

The second issue at stake here is that the police are not merely attempting to enforce the law, they are actively taking a part in trying to suppress norms and freedoms. If it had not been for a lengthy statement signed by many Maltese performers, one wonders what path the police would have gone down.

It makes us wonder who intervened and convinced the police that this was a banal idea and that it would simply backfire. Of course, we have many areas where the police take far too much power into their own hands. Malta still has criminal libel where a letter to the police, or an article by a reporter can theoretically land someone in jail. It’s sheer madness. And before anyone jumps the gun and says they are the prosecution – one should look up the amount of ex ufficio charges that are drafted.

To tarnish their image further, the police decided to seize some plastic guns from some revelers in Gozo and told them that they would receive a summons through their letterbox. This is bordering on the insane.

The police have a very important role to play in society. They do a lot of good work, particularly on the drug scene – but surely – they must have better things to do than pick on kids with bright pink water pistols and bands on stage.

This is not the first time that the police have committed such blunders and it is not the first time that they have gone overboard in executing their duties. The charges to be filed against the editor of a satirical university rag are a perfect example. But there is so much more. Many times, officers are not even educated enough to know our own laws. This newspaper once had an incident where a photographer and journalist were detained and photo films were seized which contained images – taken from public property – of a Greenpeace protest.

The Police Commissioner has just come back from illness and we wish him well, but he surely must take a crash course in what modern life is about. The Commissioner has a habit of interpreting the law too literally and inevitably drops a clanger every now and then. The names of the acts, the charges against a student, the seizure of films and also the booking of people with toy guns are prime examples of gaffes, but are they just symptoms of a more serious underlying disease? Malta needs the Police Corps and by and large they do a good job in serving and protecting. But toy guns? Come off it...