Social media on Sunday was awash with images of rats running around what was said to be the Ħamrun police station.

The images, shared by many local pages and profiles, portrayed at least one rat visibly moving around the central police station.

Independent MEP candidate Arnold Cassola paired the pictures of these scurrying rodents with images of the police station in a described filthy state. “Is this how we treat our police officers? They deserve better”, the former AD leader wrote on his personal Facebook page. These accompanying images depicted disorganised and seemingly abandoned objects left within neglected parts of the station.

Rat sightings have been growing, notably since this summer. However, these sightings were being observed particularly in densely populated areas, typically within the north-eastern harbour region, where localities reportedly faced a “national waste crisis”.

Commentors online either wrote to express their sympathy for police officers and their “disrespectful” working environments or else humorously described the stations to have become “pet-friendly”.

Seeing local police stations depicted and described in this regard is not a new instance. Back in August 2022, photos published by the Malta Police Union (MPU) of a handful of local police stations saw them describe these working environments of theirs as “not adequate” or even “horror houses”. These photographs from inside the police stations of St. Julian’s, Valletta, and Msida had shown “tangled wires, peeling walls and a general sense of neglect.” Other images from the Qormi and the Ħamrun stations were also published 16 months ago.

When questioned on these instances in the summer of 2022, the police provided this newsroom with a list of police stations that saw work carried out in preceding months – none of the five police stations, including the Ħamrun premises, were part of this list.

The police have been contacted to verify this story and to provide their stance on this matter.