Prime Minister Robert Abela has expressed his belief that defence spending in Malta should increase. This is a sentiment that has also been expressed by the Opposition.

Firstly one must point out conflicting positions by the Prime Minister on the issue of defence. Last year, reacting to calls by European Parliament president Robert Metsola for the EU to up its defence spending, the prime minister said the government aims to invest in people, not weapons. But conflicting statements aside, increasing investment in defence does make sense, for some areas. For example, investing in defence against cyber terrorism, or investing more in the armed forces capabilities to conduct rescues at sea, investing in improving the ability of Malta's disciplined forces to react to a major incident locally.

Safety and security must, of course, be a priority. However, there is one situation which, no matter what the government has done, continues to be of concern. Here we are referring to the number of closed police stations.

In a statement recently, the Nationalist Party accused that a government that genuinely seeks to ensure the safety of the Maltese people would not leave them without open police stations in their localities. The party listed localities which it said lack a police station to serve residents' needs.  "If you are from Santa Venera or Tal-Pietà, you need to go to a container in Ħamrun. If you are from Żebbuġ, you need to go to Qormi; If you are from Mellieħa, you need to go to Qawra; If you are from Swieqi, St Julian's, or Pembroke, you need to go to St Julian's; If you are from Għargħur, you need to go to Naxxar; If you are from Gżira or Msida, you need to go to Sliema; If you are from Attard or Balzan, you need to go to Birkirkara; If you are from Rabat, Dingli, or Mdina, you need to go to Mtarfa; If you are from Kalkara, Isla, or Birgu, you need to go to Bormla; If you are from Xgħajra, you need to go to Żabbar; If you are from Fgura, Luqa, or Tarxien, you need to go to Paola; If you are from Mqabba, Kirkop, or Safi, you need to go to Żejtun; If you are from Qrendi, you need to go to Żurrieq; If you are from Mġarr, you need to go to Mosta; If you are from Gozo, you need to go to either Rabat or Mġarr, and occasionally Marsalforn when a community police officer is available to use the station as an office."

In response, the Labour Party said that there are ongoing works on the Msida station, "there are other works going on including in Ħamrun, Rabat, Mtarfa - which from a Community Police Office will be transformed into the second Domestic Violence Hub in the country - and other works including in Gżira.  In recent years a Labour Government opened a new state-of-the-art Police Station in Marsascala, opened the first Gender and Domestic Violence Unit in Santa Lucija, overhauled a number of stations such as those of Marsalforn and Siġġiewi operating today 24/7, while replacing secondary stations that were traditionally closed and started to be converted as community policing offices, while opening new ones such as the one in Marsaxlokk. This occurred while the remote reporting facility has also been introduced, where a person can file a report from the comfort of their home while still having communication with the Police, even virtually." It said that today the Police Force has the greatest presence on the streets.

While the introduction of community policing is of course important, this should not come at the expense of so many areas without a police station. The virtual filing of reports has also not been promoted enough.

One understands that it may be difficult to attract people to becoming police officers, but more officers are needed. In addition, the police need to be doing more when it comes to high profile cases. Too often has action only been taken against high profile individuals because of magisterial inquiries that were launched, where the police were not seen to be doing enough. Now with the government's attempt to make the process to get an inquiry more difficult, it raises further concerns.