One does not need to have a Masters in Criminology to realise that police crime conferences are necessary when serious crime is the issue because all is needed is some common sense and logic. Irrespective of the nature (private or public) and type (theft, murder vandalism and so on) of the crime, the public needs to be constantly informed and updated in the quickest possible way on the progress or lack of progress being made in police investigations.
The police need to reassure the public through crime conferences, and this for the simple psychological impact that a conference has on both the public and also the victims and their families of what is being done.
Even if all the answers given by the police are, “we cannot answer that at this stage”, it helps to stop gossip and speculation that adds to the distress, grief and confusion that such acts create. Psychologically, the longer the police remain silent can be interpreted as a way of the police saying to the public and victims, “Come up with speculative information to help us solve the crime, because we have not made it yet”, which also damages the image of any police force.
The above refers particularly and especially to crimes such as the Sliema double murder where a person in any angry fit broke into a home at dawn to kill at first sight. In such cases the public has a right to know how matters such as these are being treated. This case has undoubtedly stirred some degree of fear, anguish and panic among, not only the relatively peaceful and quiet Sliema residents but all round the country, considering also that it took place in the very early hours of the start of the year.
If the right advice given by the clergymen at the victims’ funerals is to be heeded, which was in a nutshell, ‘silence, healing, forgiveness and love’; the first step that must be taken should come from those who have the responsibility to solve crime… the police! A crime conference is needed and there is no time to waste to help stop comments and unchristian gossip, especially in a small community as ours. This conference should be similar to those presented on Sky TV in the UK and other stations where the police investigator and/or his representative go live on national TV, even if the only replies they give are mostly, ‘we do not have information at this stage’. I believe that this is not only ethical but also in the national interest, as the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, if any.
Anthony Zarb-Dimech
BIRKIRKARA