The Ministry for Internal Affairs and National Security will be issuing a public call for those interested in becoming the first Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Police Force by June, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela told The Malta Independent.
Earlier this month, Mr Abela had confirmed that the Police Force will now have a CEO. Weeks before this story broke out, The Malta Independent reported that one of the reasons why Michael Cassar resigned from his post as Police Commissioner, was in fact the appointment of a CEO with whom the Police Commissioner will have to share power.
In comments to this newspaper yesterday, Minister Carmelo Abela said that a public call for those interested to occupy this new position will be issued in June. “There is a mandatory bureaucratic process involved, but I hope the final decision is taken without unnecessary delay.”
A selection board will be assessing the applications which will then present its recommendations to the Ministry for a final decision to be taken.
The Minister explained that the call for public interest will be open for everyone “who believes is adequate to occupy this role.” This means that the call will not be open only for those who are already involved in the police corp.
The CEO will be responsible to report directly to the Ministry.
At the moment, the Police Force is being led by acting Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar. Cutajar is the fifth Commissioner in a period of three years, ever since the Labour Party was elected to govern. John Rizzo who had served as Police Commissioner for more than 12 years was removed right after the election. Peter Paul Zammit came next, but was later substituted by Ray Zammit as acting Commissioner. He too was removed following a scandalous incident involving the driver of former Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia who fired shots at a motorist that clipped the minister’s official car.
The last Police Commissioner, Michael Cassar was appointed in December of 2014. He said he decided to step down because of health reasons.