Police asked to vote a week early as union hits out at decision

Jan 31 2022

The Malta Police Union has issued criticism of a decision which will force police officers to vote in the upcoming general election a week before anyone else.

The union stated that officers were not consulted on the matter, with amendments to the General Elections Act enacted on the 25th January meaning that members of the police force must cast their vote seven days before the rest of the country.

The union’s stated claimed that it had neither been informed nor consulted. ‘Why are Police Officers, once again being denied their full rights as citizens of this Country to vote after the electoral campaign closes, and after being given the time to reflect on their vote?’

The union asked whether police officers’ votes were being considered more important than the person behind that voting document.

This comes amid rumours of a mid-March election, particularly as Parliament is set to hold its final vote on the Budget n Wednesday. This vote, once passed, would leave no obstacles in the way for Prime Minister Robert Abela to dissolve parliament and call the general election.

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Spotify loses over $2 billion due to Joe Rogan podcast controversy

Jan 31 2022

Streaming service Spotify has suffered a massive battering last week after it agreed to remove Neil Young’s music due to a Joe Rogan controversy. The 76-year-old Neil Young, himself a Polio survivor, spoke out against Spotify for allowing famous Joe Rogan to spread medical misinformation by platforming ‘problematic’ guests.

The Harvest Moon singer claimed he didn’t want to share a platform with him due to the guests spreading COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation. Spotify adhered to the musician’s request, having the majority of his tracks taken down by the end of the week.As this went on, the share price was plummeting hard. Between January 26 to 28, it fell 6% – equating $2.1billion. With hashtags #CancelSpotify, #ByeSpotify and #DeleteSpotify circulating, the share price fell to a 52-week low of $164.41 before recovering slightly.

Before the Neil Young fallout, a group of 270 scientists, doctors and expert also wrote to Spotify raising concerns about Rogan’s podcast. Since Friday, Bruce Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren, best-selling author Brene Brown and even Prince Harry and Meghan Markle raised concerns about pandemic misinformation. Neil Young has since also spoken out, saying that he’s not calling for Rogan to be removed but simply does not want to have his music on a platform which spreads misinformation in the sam way private companies have the right to choose what they profit from.

Rogan himself has also spoken out with a 10-minute video, arguing that the two guests which received most backlash, Robert Mason and Peter McCullough, are well-qualified to speak about their chosen fields. He said that the only reason why there’s been so much controversy is because their views are contrary to public opinion. He said he wanted to hear their opinion, but stated he doesn’t know 100% that what his guests said is true.

He instead finds it necessary for there to be a platform where they can speak without the usual repercussions if they did the same thing on social media. Spotify has also since issued a new policy in response. Spotify will be allegedly slapping a content advisory for any podcast which speaks about the pandemic. This will lead listeners to a dedicated COVID-19 Hub, which provides resources and up-to-date information about COVID.

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300 abuse cases await handling by single magistrate

Jan 31 2022

Around 300 domestic violence cases are currently pending before the one magistrate assigned to handle them. According to figures compiled by the law courts, the statistics support concerns that traumatised abuse survivors are waiting up to a year for their cases to reach court.

Since July 2021, Magistrate Lara Lanfranco decided 162 cases, with 278 remaining pending. The magistrate, who has been commended for her hard work, has also inherited cases from another magistrate. This goes over and above her own caseload, resulting in major delays for all cases.

The issue was raised by Nationalist MP and lawyer Jason Azzopardi earlier this month, saying that he had been called to the police headquarters to assist a client, a victim of domestic violence. Police officers informed him that the case would start in January 2023.

Senior lecturer at UOM’s Faculty for Social Well-being Marceline Naudi said that delays getting justice is one of the biggest challenges for domestic abuse survivors. She highlighted how the delays are too long between the day a woman finds the courage to file a police report and the time when the perpetrator is charged in court.

The duration of the court case is also lengthy, which means that the process can drag on for years while the perpetrators may still resort to violence and harassment. A spokesperson for the Home Affairs Ministry revealed that the Court Services Agency had been collecting data on domestic violence cases since July 2021, when Magistrate Lanfranco was assigned to them.

Before this, domestic violence cases were treated as district cases and assigned to various magistrates. A police spokesperson said that since the Domestic Violence unit was set up in October 2020, a total of 2,203 reports were received.

445 reports were received between October and December 2020, and 1,758 were registered in 2021. Following investigations, 142 were arraigned between October and December 2021. In 2021, a total of 1,231 people faced court proceedings for domestic violence.

40 people were found guilty between October 2020 and December 2021. 165 were acquitted while 92 cases were declared as exhausted. A case can be exhausted for several reasons which include victims who refuse to testify against their alleged abuser or those who withdraw their initial criminal complaint.

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700 people reported missing last year in Malta

Jan 31 2022

Malta’s Police Force have received reports of missing persons on a daily basis, with most, fortunately, resulting in positive outcomes.

Last year, the police investigated reports of over 700 people who were reported missing. TVMNews was informed that two of the reports are still being investigated as there is still no indications of the persons concerned.

The most common cases concern the elderly, with Inspector John Spiteri saying that apart from this age group, persons entering Malta as illegal immigrants and minors under a care order who do not return on time consist of the most common missing cases.

The inspector said that police investigations start as soon as the report comes in, because, according to him, those are the most crucial moments to start establishing certain facts about the person and what could have happened.

In the first month of this year, police asked for the help of the public three times. Two were cases wherein two elderly people were missing – a 71-year-old Englishman living in Kerċem and a 76-year-old man from Sliema. They were both found a few hours after the request for assistance was issued.

The public was also asked to help locate a 29-year-old Libyan who was a resident of the Santa Marija rehabilitation centre in Luqa. He was last seen on 28th November, but has not yet been found. Spiteri also said that when a person is reported missing, an alert is triggered in a system to which the police have access throughout the European Union.

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