Police academy and prison left in disastrous state - Home Affairs Minister
Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia hit out on the Nationalist Party had mishandled the management of police squads, and had left the police academy and the corrective facilities in Kordin in a terrible state.
He argued that the previous administration had failed to appoint enough police officers in local police stations, and the training courses being offered were merely 'boy scout training' and not up to standard for the police squad. The police academy, he said, was in a dreadful condition, not fit for training the national security. The government is considering employing full time lecturers at the academy, and undergoing talks with international agencies to revise the courses.
The ministry is handling the police force adequately, Dr Mallia said, ensuring that members of the rapid intervention unit have been appointed to make rounds in diverse localities. In addition, the minister himself took part in consultation meetings in Sliema, Swieqi and Qawra, where a spate of robberies has been reported, and a police mobile home has been opened in Marsascala.
The government has increased human resources within the army and 43 officers has been appointed at the detention centre in Hal Far. The corrective facilities at Kordin were also in a terrible condition, Dr Mallia said, with security cameras and punch clocks not working. Lock up cells did not respect standards of basic human rights. Inmates are being given more opportunity to work, with 10% of their income going towards a fund for victims of crime. Through the contribution of NGOs, former convicts are being assisted to reintegrate within society.
Dr Mallia added that the civil protection services were using vehicles that had not been replaced in the past 25 years.
Government not keeping up with transparency pledge - Azzopardi
PN MP Jason Azzopardi said that this government is not keeping up with its transparency pledge and is failing to publish major documents, such as the case of the inquiry where a the police commissioner withdrew charges in a case where police officers were assaulted, as well as the Elton Taliana case.
PN MP Jason Azzopardi
He said that a number of other inquiries into potential police wrongdoing have not been published.
He said Dr Mallia has resorted to "moral violence" instead of the physical violence of old of the Labour Party.
"Decor and respect should always win through," Dr Azzopardi said.
Dr Azzopardi said the transfers in the police corps have devastated the force, leaving it hamstrung across the board.