Naturally in my media role I do get people regularly coming in contact on human situations which I try to follow the best way possible and refer accordingly to the competent authorities.  I feel and believe that people in the media have an indispensable function of listening to what people are telling them and pass on the message correspondingly.

The story reported in the front page of today’s l-orizzont was a case in point. 

A couple of days ago I was alerted to this same person who for some weeks has been seen sleeping in one of the bus shelters at G’ Magia, right in front of St Luke’s Hospital just across the newly inaugurated and regularly staffed police station.  The person who came in touch asked me to investigate (in my journalistic role) this particular situation, which I obviously did.  My informant passed on some photos to substantiate her arguments, photos that I made sure did not show the face of the person in question but gave a clear representation of what the circumstances in question where. 

My first and obvious course of action was safety and hence I informed the police on this case. 

In the freezing nights we are having, it is increasingly urgent to make sure that action is taken accordingly as the possibilities of hypothermia or some other ailments are compounded. 

So after I wrote an email to the police HQ, they replied immediately that the case will be referred to the district office in question.  In a way, I sort of put my mind at rest. 

But this man was once again seen sleeping in the bus shelter that same night. 

So on Saturday morning, right after my programme Ghandi xi Nghid, I went to the police station at G’ Mangia, asked them if they knew about the situation and if any action had been taken.

The two young polite constables, even if they were willing to listen, said that they knew about this situation and that they had talked to this man a number of times.  They told me that he had refused their help but was not disturbing the public so there was little they could do.  I informed them that I was hardly bothered by him being a disturbance but definitely interested in his welfare.   

I asked to see an Inspector and they informed me that the district police station responsible for the area was Hamrun.  So I drove to Hamrun, was greeted by a belligerent constable at the desk who in a very incensed tone kept repeating that the police knew about this person and there wasn’t anything to worry about!   I also got the occasional cue from the sergeant sitting at the back of the reception area, busy munching his panina, telling me that there wasn’t anything they could do and that this man was not disturbing the ‘public order’.  I tried to explain to this dreary officer that the cold nights and the fact that he was sleeping in a bus shelter meant that something was not quite well, socially or psychiatrically and it merits specialized assessment.    

Both officers told me that in their opinion he didn’t require a psychiatric assessment, and my jaw dropped!  At that point the officers got quite irritated when I kept insisting that they are not the ones that should be deciding if he needs psychiatric attention or not.  The constable kept maintaining that when in the past they had similar cases the doctor on stand-by at the Health Centers would ask the police officer what the symptoms are and it was only if the police indicated that something was wrong would the doctor on call come and do an examination on site!  Now if this isn’t ridiculous (assuming this constable was correct in describing the procedure) I don’t know what is!

They kept insisting that they had spoken to this man in question a number of times and that he seemed well and that he went to sleep in the bus shelter (in this cold) because he got bored at home! 

At one point the Sergeant in question got confrontational, insinuating that what I wanted to do was admit him to Mt Carmel Hospital.  Patiently, because the man was still busy gnawing at his panina, I informed him that Mt Carmel Hospital is a medical facility intended to help people and not a penal complex.  All I was asking from the police was to check with a medical doctor to ensure that if he needs medical attention it is attended to.  At one point the Sergeant threatened me that it was illegal to photograph people and he might decide to take me to task on this.  Obviously I would not have given him the photos and the source from where they came and once again unhurriedly and patiently I explained to him that he cannot ask me to reveal my journalistic sources. 

Bless his soul, he went quiet after that. 

When I started seeing I was not getting through I asked to see the Inspector, an amiably and good-naturedly professional who notified me that whilst it is ‘illegal for people to be homeless’ (this was another good one) this person had a place where to stay and he was only going out to sleep in the bus shelter because he got bored at home.  I recommended, to this approachable Inspector in question, to check whether there is a possibility that his residence is perhaps inadequate.  She promised she would investigate. 

So the moral of the story is that the police officers do not see it as being a strange situation that someone sleeps outside and that we lack community  services that can attend to such circumstances.  A long way to go indeed but I will not tail off!

Ghandi xi Nghid will keep following this case with an update on developments next Saturday.