Bormla: anatomy of a crime hot spot

Television serials such as CSI have triggered an interest in the science of crime scene investigation. But what happens when the 'crime scene' takes the form of an entire town?

A recent study released by the University of Malta's criminology department - full name: 'Community Perceptions of Criminality: The Case of the Maltese Walled City of Bormla' sets out to do precisely this, focusing exclusively on residents' perceptions of criminality in one of the oldest of the inner harbour cities, and arguably one of Malta's more depressed suburban areas to boot.

Why Bormla, one may well ask? According to the authors - Dr JosAnn Cutajar, Prof. Saviour Formosa and Dr Trevor Calafato - because "this town is often associated by the Maltese general public with crime since a substantial number of convicted persons come from this area."

Adopting the clinical approach you'd expect from a crime scene investigation, they proceed to analyse the area's social demographics and population trends, as well as the reactions of its inhabitants to how they are perceived by others.

The results at a glance seem to confirm many existing perceptions, not just about the city in question but also about the nature of crime itself.

Space and crime

Among the factors contributing to a disproportionally high crime rate in this locality - though not the highest: Bormla actually places fifth in the 'most wanted' list of Malta's crime spots, after St Julian's, Sliema, St Paul's Bay and Valletta - you will find all the usual suspects: illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, high population turnover, high incidence of problem drug use, broken homes, heavy dependence on state welfare and relative police inaction when confronted with reports, among others.

Nonetheless the same study also points towards complications when it comes to accurately assessing the degree of criminality associated with any one locality. For one thing it is unclear what proportion of the reported crimes (which in turn do not give a clear picture of the actual extent of crime) can be attributed to long-term residents of the city itself, and how much can be laid at the door of 'visitors' who avail of existing facilities in the area, such as a local homeless shelter.

Moreover, the study also reveals the intriguing detail that different localities are prone not only to different levels of crime, but also to different types of offences... in categories that may sometimes be skewed on account of the locality's unique idiosyncrasies.

For instance: it transpires that Bormla registers a higher rate of 'crime against the person' than the national average; but scores low in the much more widespread category of 'crime against property'. This seemingly dramatic detail calls to mind violent crime of the 'drive-by shooting' variety one associates with large cities. Under scrutiny, however, these statistics can be seen to be inflated by a higher incidence of domestic crime in Bormla than elsewhere: notably neglect of children, which may at times take the less dramatic form of missing out on child support payments.

On the flipside, it also turns out that areas of high crime concentration in Bormla cover a proportionally much higher percentage of the city's entire footprint than other localities, where crime tends to be more localised (in St Julian's, for instance, the vast majority of reported crimes occur in one neighbourhood: Paceville).

This in turn suggests that unlike other recognised hotspots, the factors contributing to Bormla's high crime rate are more evenly distributed throughout the city than elsewhere: with the worrying implication that poverty, illiteracy and unemployment are likewise more prevalent among the wider population.

A 'social dump' site

All this seems to cement the perception of Bormla as a social dumping site: which the same study suggests is confirmed even by the residents themselves.

"Bormla residents tend to attribute crime to the presence of 'outsiders,' namely, people who have ended up living in Bormla either because they were sent there by the social housing authorities or because they could not afford to rent accommodation elsewhere. They believe that a stop to 'social dumping' by the local authorities would help to minimise this crime rate."

Of interest to the sociologist are the suggested reasons for Bormla's current status: which can be tied to much larger developments affecting the country as a whole, including the dramatic changes in Malta's economic infrastructure in the mid-to late-20th century.

One early reason for the prevalence of cheap social housing in the area was purely pragmatic: much of Bormla was levelled by Luftwaffe bombs during WW2, and large-scale housing projects were urgently required in the years that followed.

The war is cited for another of the city's population trends, too. Having been the most heavily bombed part of Malta owing to its dockyard facilities, much of its original population moved out to safer areas for the duration of the blitz. "Those who moved out of the area tended to be families with the material means to find alternative shelter elsewhere," the study notes. "A good portion of these wartime refugees did not return after the war."

Apart from an intense population upheaval which robbed the once thriving harbour town - described as 'Malta's industrial hub' before the war - of its more affluent population, the blitz also contributed to a higher level of vacant, abandoned and generally derelict buildings in Bormla than other areas... providing ample space for criminality to occur.

A geographical evaluation of the city's internal crime hotspots appears to confirm this perception: "Within multi-purpose areas, crime rates were perceived to be higher in areas with a higher rate of abandoned houses, and near blocks in social housing estates."

Collective efficacy

Interestingly, the concentration of social housing seems to affect crime rates in other, less expected ways too. One factor identified by the researchers is a lack of what they term 'collective efficacy': defined as "a group's shared belief in its conjoint capabilities to organize and execute courses of action."

Collective efficacy, the study notes, is difficult to achieve in areas where population turnover is high, and as a result social networks are sparse and ill-defined.

And yet, the already densely populated harbour area continued to be viewed as a convenient area to site all Malta's social housing continued till long after the war. "Other social housing projects were built after independence (1964). The majority of social housing units in the Maltese Islands are concentrated in Valletta and Bormla, according to statistics derived from the Maltese Lands Department. In fact, 8.8% of the social housing units in the Maltese Islands are to be found there..."

More recently, the privatisation and dramatic downsizing of the same dockyard that had caused the early exodus, also resulted in relatively high levels of unemployment in the locality, which persist to this day.

Taken together, these two factors have contributed to considerable exasperation among the residents, which the report hints may itself be part of the problem vis-a-vis 'crimes against persons'.

"Long-term residents regard the people who move into Bormla as 'outsiders' and a 'scourge' since, according to them, their behaviour gives the place a bad name. The 'locals' blame policy makers for building flats in an area which was already overpopulated and then 'dumping' problem families there."

All things told, this aspect of the study seems to forcefully illustrate the well-known but little understood truism that 'poverty breeds crime'.

"Neighbourhoods with a concentration of socially disadvantaged people living in bad social conditions tend to have a concentration of angry and frustrated residents who might express this frustration by becoming physically violent. This statement might explain why the crime rate against the person in Bormla was higher than the national average."

Adding to this sense of frustration is the low response level by the police to reported crime, which is a frequently-cited complaint among Bormla residents.

"Residents felt that the crime rate was high because the police rarely made their presence felt in the locality. The respondents lamented the fact that the police were rarely seen patrolling the area and that they only turned up when something went extremely wrong. They felt that they were inadequately protected by the police because as a community, as they reported, 'We don't count.'"

Street by street

Under the microscope, Bormla's crime profile seems to be surprisingly localised for such a small city. "Offence hotspots in Bormla are spread across the urban area but concentrations exist, located in an arc around the church, with two distinct clusters: one around the southeastern bastions, and another closer to the Bormla primary school and the Verdala social housing estate."

The study observes that "criminal activity in 2009 took place in areas where there was a high concentration of residents living in social housing units or in privately rented accommodation (for example, an area called Fuq San Pawl). This, therefore, leads one to conclude that a lower rate of collective efficacy exists in areas where residents might not have had the time or capacity to form social networks with other people living in the area since they are constantly changing abode."

Again, however, there are complications. Contacted separately, social worker George Busuttil - chairperson of prisoners' rights group Mid-Dlam Ghad Dawl, which runs a homeless shelter in Bormla - echoes a prevalent complaint among residents cited in the same study, regarding a factor which may artificially inflate the city's crime rates.

"Most people arraigned in court over criminal offences and listed as 'Bormlizi' are not true born and bred 'Bormlizi'," he explains. "For example we as a Foundation have a shelter in Bormla and cater for those leaving prison without a place to live. Immediately these change their ID cards and list Bormla as their place of residence. After leaving our shelter most of them do not bother to change their ID again so if they are rearrested they will be listed as 'Bormlizi'."

The reason for the change to ID cards is once again pragmatic. By registering their address as a homeless shelter, the holder automatically becomes eligible to state hand-outs. And by retaining the same official address even after leaving the shelter, the same people continue to be eligible for the same benefits: thus creating a 'demand', as it were, for a Bormla ID card among the category likeliest to resort to crime.

Among these are ex-convicts who tend to gravitate towards Bormla either to avail of this same benefit, or simply because the rents there are cheaper.

A vicious circle

All this, the study suggests, adds up to a vicious circle: "This concentration of ex-offenders in the area may be high also because it has been attested that materially deprived people are more likely to be arrested, to be charged by the police, to be denied bail, to appear in court without adequate legal representation, and therefore more likely to be convicted."

One manifestation of this situation involves the proportionally very high levels of problem drug use in the area - a phenomenon which is universally associated with unemployment and substandard social conditions.

The second highest reported crime concerned neglect of children; and worryingly, the study suggests a correlative between these two problem trends.

"It was surprising to note that residents were quite concerned about the neglect of children and young people living in the area, which they felt was almost as prevalent as drug-related crime... In fact, the local authorities were at one time very concerned about the fact that some of these children and adolescents were being used by drug pushers to deliver drugs."

Charles Miceli, who runs a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts, concurs with the study's conclusions that the prevailing social conditions represent a vicious circle from which it is very difficult to emerge.

"In 20 years working with these cases I can confirm that most of the people who come to us with drug problems tend to come from the same areas and to know each other," he said, acknowledging Bormla as one of these areas. Regarding the ID situation, he cites it as an example of how society sometimes unwittingly channels people into a life of crime.

"Theoretically, falsely declaring your address on your ID is a crime, though admittedly not a serious one. Still, the situation is that some people feel they need to lie about their residency just to get social benefits.. And once they've already committed a petty crime, some might say, I may as well commit more crimes. That is what society is teaching them: they feel they have to resort to crime, just to get the basics that they need."

The road ahead

Though useful to identify the dynamics of the problems involved, it goes beyond the academic study's remit to propose any form of solution. But Bormla's mayor Alison Zerafa Civelli, who acknowledges the main thrust of the study's findings, has a few ideas of what can be done.

Taking her cue from the geographical differences in crime prevalence between Bormla's small but distinct neighbourhoods, she calls for a change in government housing policy as a matter of urgency.

"When you look at crime in Bormla you will see that some areas are worse than others. The worst areas are the areas where government or private landlords rent out dilapidated apartments very cheaply. The less problematic areas are where investment has been made in building better quality residences which are put up for sale. Things will begin to improve when government stops renting out residences in Bormla for next to nothing, and instead puts up apartments for sale, even if cheaply."

This, she adds, will encourage people to become home-owners, which in turn implies investment, security and also a sense of ownership over the area which may in time address some of the same problems identified in Bormla's crime profile.