Community Policing in Malta During COVID-19

Abstract

Community Policing (CP) was introduced as a pilot project in one of the coastal localities in the north of the island in July 2019, with a view of expanding it to other localities by end 2020. The onset of Covid-19 in March 2020, with its subsequent lockdowns and prohibitions, threatened the future of this project in more ways than one, at least on paper. However, in practice, the initiative continued to thrive, to the point where Community Policing was introduced in another 11 localities around Malta by September 2020 with a view of expanding it to another 9 localities. This paper looks at what could have made this initiative successful in spite of all the odds affecting both community and policing. The research involved 90 hours of fieldwork covering street patrol observation and unstructured interviews with the Community Police leaders and most of the officers in 12 localities over three months, This paper evaluates the main issues shaping the project on paper and in actual practice, and how the two fundamental principles behind it – community building and proactive problem solving – survived the pandemic and also managed to overcome clashes encountered with the traditional police culture of the  command and control approach at the district level.