The government and the Labour Party are usually very quick to respond to some criticism, particularly when it comes from the Opposition benches.

So when days pass and they remain silent on a particular issue, it means that the person or organisation who is criticising a particular issue is correct. It’s likely that the government and the PL want to ignore the issue in the hope that it will go away.

Last Monday, Nationalist MP Ivan Castillo uploaded a video on Facebook, showing a closed police station in Mellieha, and lamenting the fact that the locality – which covers a large area of land in the north of Malta and is particularly busy during summer because of the thousands of people who visit the many bays that exist in this part of the island – is only manned by three community police officers.

There are times when, due to shifts and other duties, only one police officer is present and, worse than this, no car is even available. If something urgent happens, the officer either has to wait for colleagues to pick them up or else go on the scene by bus. Given that the Mellieha locality is vast and includes Manikata, Selmun, Ghadira, Armier and Cirkwwa, it is clear that this situation is untenable.

For any reports that need to be filed with the police, people have to go to the Qawra police station, he remarked. Even the St Paul’s Bay police station is closed, he said.

There has been no official reply to Castillo’s statement. But the government should not ignore his plea, because what he said has exposed a situation which should be corrected.

What is keeping the police from manning the Mellieha police station round the clock? What is keeping them from having more officers stationed there, and possibly increasing the numbers in summer when, according to Castillo, the population in this locality is multiplied by three, given that so many Maltese have summer residences there? And why isn’t a police car available at all times, given that the Mellieha is one of the largest localities in terms of size?

While at it, we also ask why there is no ambulance stationed to cover the northern part of the island (and in other strategic points across the island to cover as much territory as possible)? The Civil Protection Department has its own facility in Xemxija with a fleet of fire engines at the ready for every eventuality. Shouldn’t there also be an ambulance stationed there too so that it can reach accident sites in the north of Malta much more quickly than it does when departing from Mater Dei Hospital? Considering the difficulties ambulances face in being driven through the volume of traffic, it would save valuable time in situations when time is of the essence and every second counts.

We are sure that, if there is a will, the necessary steps can be taken to make things better as Castillo has suggested. He is right when he says that the present situation “is a disgrace”.