The only time that Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar thought about submitting his resignation was on 15 May this year, when police constable Simon Schembri was grievously injured in a hit-and-run incident.

This statement was written by Cutajar himself in the latest edition of the Police’s magazine, wherein he said that the day of this episode was the only moment in his tenure when he had considered resigning.

“I remember going to hospital and seeing the state he was in and crying for him and his family,” he said. “In that moment in time, I felt that I should carry part of the blame because an anti-police environment had been fermented, with certain sectors of society directing their criticism at me. I went home and spent some time mulling it over.”

“A few days later, I visited Simon Schembri at the ITU but he was resting and I didn’t want to wake him. When he woke up, I asked him if he recognised me and his response remains marked in my mind till this day. He told me these precise words: ‘How can I not recognize you, Sir? You love the man in the street so much and you do so much for us.’", the Commissioner wrote. 

“I cried in silence afterwards but his words gave me the courage I needed to continue my work”, Cutajar said.

Numerous demands for Cutajar’s resignation have been made, especially following the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and of how the initial investigations of claims surrounding Egrant where handled back in April 2016.

However, Cutajar wrote in the magazine that as long as he is healthy and has the support of his family, of the country’s administration, and of the police force itself, he would continue working in his post so that what was started in his tenure is continued and strengthened.