There is something deeply unsettling about seeing soldiers deployed on the streets of a peaceful country to deal with the kind of disorder that should ordinarily be handled by the police.

The presence of Armed Forces of Malta personnel in Swieqi may reassure residents who have had enough of noise, drunken behaviour, vandalism, littering and other forms of anti-social behaviour.

But that is precisely why the sight of soldiers patrolling residential streets should concern us.

Their presence is not simply another measure being taken by the authorities. It is an admission that something has gone wrong.

Malta is not at war. There is no national security emergency. Swieqi is not a battlefield. The problems confronting residents, serious though they may be, are problems of public order, policing, regulation and enforcement.

And those are precisely the areas in which the State should have a properly resourced civilian police force.

When soldiers have to be brought in to help maintain order in a residential community, the government is effectively acknowledging that the ordinary system is not coping. Instead of addressing why the police do not have sufficient resources to do their job, it has reached for a military solution.

That may be convenient. The law allows for it. But it is not necessarily right.

The distinction between soldiers and police officers exists for good reason. The Armed Forces are tasked with defending the country and dealing with military and security responsibilities. The police are responsible for enforcing the law and maintaining public order in our communities.

Blurring that distinction should never become an easy answer to political or administrative failure.

There is also a question of precedent. Exceptional measures have a habit of becoming less exceptional with time. Once society becomes accustomed to seeing soldiers performing duties that would normally belong to the police, the threshold for deploying them again becomes lower.

Today it is Swieqi. Tomorrow it could be another locality experiencing problems with unruly tourists, nightlife or short-let accommodation.

That is not the direction in which a civilian democracy should be moving.

None of this is an argument against the soldiers themselves. AFM personnel should not be blamed for being asked to perform a task by their political masters. Nor should residents be criticised for wanting greater security and peace in their own neighbourhoods.

The responsibility lies squarely with the government.

It has allowed problems associated with tourism, short-let accommodation, overcrowding and poor enforcement to accumulate. It has allowed residents to complain repeatedly about disturbances without providing an adequate and lasting response. And now, instead of fixing the underlying problems, it is putting soldiers on the streets.

That is not a solution. It is a symptom of failure.

If the police require more personnel, give them more personnel. If short-let accommodation is being abused, enforce the rules. If tourists are causing disturbances, ensure that the laws governing public behaviour are properly enforced. If particular areas are suffering from chronic disorder, allocate the necessary police resources to those areas.

Do not make the military compensate for weaknesses in civilian administration.

The government should also explain clearly what AFM personnel are being asked to do, what authority they have and under whose command they operate while carrying out these duties.

A peaceful country should not become comfortable with soldiers patrolling its streets because its government has failed to ensure that the police can do so.

The sight of AFM soldiers in Swieqi may make the State look present. In reality, it should make us ask where the State has been failing.

Soldiers are not a substitute for police officers. And in a time of peace, their presence on residential streets to deal with ordinary law-and-order problems should be regarded not as a success, but as a warning sign.

The government should be fixing the failure that made their deployment necessary, rather than allowing that deployment to become the new normal.