The enforcement against and the prosecution of certain crimes in Malta is, at times, severely lacking. Apart from the perpetual traffic and littering violations, two highly contentious examples spring immediately to mind in this context: spring hunting and the smart meter theft racket.

One, the former, is not about financial gain – it is about a complete disrespect for a law that has rendered the age-old practice of shooting any bird seen out of the sky. The second is purely about financial gain. 

But what they both hold as a common denominator is the fact that the prospect of both enforcement and prosecution are, at the time of the commission of the crimes in question, believed to be remote possibilities. And it is only when these prospects are made more real, by the setting of examples, that people will think twice about committing these or similar crimes.

First the smart meter racket, in which business and domestic electricity consumers were given six weeks in which to come forward, declare all they know about who made the indecent proposal and how it was done, pay a fine and repay the electricity that was stolen and in so doing avoid being prosecuted.

While this amnesty offer was already, in the opinion of many, wrong, what is even worse still is the fact that even though that six-week period of grace elapsed on Monday, no one that failed to come forward has been charged as yet.

In an article carried last Sunday, Enemalta had warned that it would employ “all necessary measures to take action against customers who have chosen not to rectify their irregularities”.

One would have expected that, given the fact that the perpetrators of the crime – and make no mistake that paying to have your meter fixed to steal electricity is in fact a crime –the state, through Enemalta, should have set an example by beginning to charge people straight off the bat on Tuesday.

This, however, has not yet come to pass. And although we are positive that the appropriate legal steps will be taken, those steps should have been taken as soon as the starting gun was fired. Anything short of that will be interpreted as a reluctance to charge those the government has repeatedly said would be charged.

But instead of charging at least one of those who have failed to come forward, we had the news that Enemalta is throwing a lifeline to the businesses that have engaged in the practice by staggering their repayments, possibly over years, so as to avoid financial woes. 

Just about everyone is presumably in favour of giving second chances where appropriate, and no one wants to put any companies out of business. But the fact of the matter is that those businesses who have been cutting some rather large corners by paying only a fraction of their electricity bills have undoubtedly been able to offer better prices and better services to their clients as a result of lower overhead expenses – to the direct detriment of their competitors who have been paying their rather steep electricity bills in full. Is that fair on the honest competing businesses?

The point here is not to call for a naming and shaming exercise, but rather to see justice done not only as regards the culprits but as well as those competing businesses that have actually paid their bills.

The second issue, that of the widespread killing of protected birds every spring and autumn, has been with us for far longer and it would seem that even though the government has increased fines applicable to illegal hunting tenfold, there are those who still think they are immune to the laws of the land.

We will not delve into the merits or lack thereof of spring hunting, we are speaking here strictly of the illegal killing of protected species.

Yesterday was the first day of the spring hunting season and with the commencement of the spring hunting came the continued killing of protected species, as we also report in today’s issue. There had also been dozens of protected birds shot out of the skies before the season began.

This shows that while the new and improved fines being imposed by the government, and while we are positive that they have had an effect, they have not had the complete effect that was desired. Now that the judiciary has a better set of punitive actions that can be taken against those found guilty of hunting offences, the key is now in enforcement of the law.

And while all those concerned – the government, ornithologist and hunting lobbies included – call every year for zero tolerance to illegal hunting, concrete action in such cases will speak far stronger than mere words. Some arraignments have been made and people have been sentenced for their pre-season antics but enforcement must be stepped up considerably now that the hunting/bird migration season is now in full swing.

The government must, once and for all, give no quarter to these blatant lawbreakers and apply a zero tolerance policy to all forms of illegal hunting.  After all, its credibility is on the line in more serious terms than merely facing another slap on the wrist or punitive fines from the European Court of Justice – illegal hunting is illegal and individuals cannot be allowed to run rampant and flout the law of the land with impunity.

By adopting yet failing to implement a zero tolerance policy toward illegal hunting in the past, the government has already set a very dangerous precedent. And that precedent, if left unchecked, will be reinforced once again this year unless there is a serious crackdown on infractions of hunting laws.

Many are the laws that different citizens disagree with for different reasons but the fact of the matter is that if there is a law in place, that law must be respected. Illegalities on the level that the country witnesses during each and every spring and autumn bird migration season are not acceptable on any level.

It is only until there is a real fear of enforcement and, more importantly, of prosecution, that people will think twice about flouting any of the laws of the land.