PN vows to reopen all police stations and fund CCTV in locality playgrounds

The Nationalist Party has vowed to reopen all police stations and fund capital investment in localities to deter criminal activity if elected to government.

During a press conference on Monday, the party laid out ten proposals to increase security across localities.

Among their proposals is the reopening of all police stations that were shuttered under the Labour administration.

“A Nationalist government believes that the police station was, and is, as a point of reference, and place of shelter or help for whoever is in need or in an emergency.”

The PN would allocate a set amount of capital funds towards investing in police stations. It would also commit itself to implementing this plan over a 24-month period so that police stations can be reopened and accessible to the public on a 24/7 basis.

The party further vowed to strengthen the idea of community policing across all localities, believing it can instil a spirit of community and solidarity in localities.

Part of this includes introducing Community Support Officers. These officers would patrol localities and assist in the upkeeping of different areas while preventing petty crime.

It pledged to offer more resources for local councils to identify criminal hotspots in their localities. Once these areas are identified, councils can use capital investment to deter criminality, such as through installing better light fixtures or introducing a CCTV system.

With regards to private property, the PN would introduce incentives for people to install security systems in homes.

A similar initiative would be offered for elderly people still living in their homes.  Through a grants system, the elderly would be able to get professional help on ways to secure their home.

The PN pledged to carry out maintenance works in playgrounds, gardens and recreational spaces in every locality with the aim of making them more secure, such as by installing gates in playing fields.

Apart from this, the PN would introduce committees responsible for the running of playing fields. These committees would be made up of people from the locality, including parents and young minors, to run the playing fields in an orderly and structured way.  This would be done on a voluntary basis.

The press conference was addressed by PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami and candidates Graziella Galea, Darren Carabott and Errol Cutajar.