On Monday, the Malta Police Corps celebrated Mass and then continued with a medal awards ceremony to honour its finest.

The activities were part of the corps’ 196th anniversary. Among those who were given medals, there were two police officers who risked their lives to foil an armed robbery that degenerated into a shootout. Others were given commendations for acts of bravery such as officers who foiled burglaries while off-duty and others who have wrestled and overcome hostage takers.

In short, we owe them a debt of gratitude. But it is not just those who are honoured, it is each and every member of the Police Corps who put their duties and the needs of society above themselves.

The members of the Police Corps have a tough job in the sense that they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They often have to take split-second decisions, and either way they go, there will always be recriminations and consequences.

Some of these decisions could be as simple as calming down an irate spouse, or as the two officers who received medals did, it can mean a difference between a shootout and prevention of a large armed robbery or death to themselves and other customers who might have been in the vicinity.

It is true that the police is understaffed and over-worked and the take home pay is not much to write home about either. But there have been improvements over the years. Just a couple of years ago, the press was talking about morale within the Corps which had sunk to an all-time low. Now, we are talking of new equipment, higher success rates and improving the various branches of the law enforcement sectors.

Still there is more to be done. The Administrative Law Enforcement Unit is always in need of a mention. These boys have to keep up will illegal hunting that takes place both from land and at sea – they also have other responsibilities which they need to keep up with. This is perhaps the one team within the Police Corps that needs to be properly audited to at least allocate enough resources to them so as to be able to at least have a fighting chance of keeping up with the tens of phone calls they receive each and every day.

We must also spare a thought for those traffic police officers who, for so many days of the year, are up until the early hours directing traffic during events that the rest of the island treats as entertainment.

The list goes on and on, but one cannot forget to mention the Drug Squad and the work it carries out to keep drugs off the streets and to prosecute those who try and sell dangerous substances on to others.

But we must continue to improve. There are many police stations around Malta that are closed, or only opened for a couple of hours because there is not enough manpower. There are other stations which are in danger of collapsing; they are in such a state of disrepair. Officers complain of ancient fans and archaic computer systems. There has been an effort over the years to instil more pride in the Police Corps and there has been varying degrees of success. But though it is a vocation, in other senses it is like any other employment. Police officers need a good relative pay, they need good conditions and they need to be motivated so as to continue to ensure that the law is observed.