A very worrying side note to the Malliagate affair is the shocking and gross ineptitude of the police officers who were on duty in the control room last night.

There was only one cop who did his job that night and threw any notion of political pressure to hell. Listening to the recordings of the conversations made by PC Sheehan to the Control Room that night, one struggles to come up with a vision with what actually goes on in there.

We have all watched programmes abroad where emergency number operators calls are broadcast to accompany some sort of story - whether it is about intruders or police chases on the roads. Their demeanour and ability to calm people on the other end of the line is always something that sticks in your head.

But we have a situation here where one operator confuses the Tal Qroqq tunnel, first with Marsa (tas-suwed as he put it) and then the Santa Venera tunnels. When Sheehan calls back, we get a woman PC on the line. She sounded like she was talking to someone that she didn't really want to be talking to and that she had other, better, things to do. In fact, on the Monday night, at Castille, the running joke was that everyone could picture her filing her nails and saying: "Ok hi, we sent them (the Rapid Intervention Unit) to you." The woman was unfazed, even when Sheehan - still obviously in a fit of rage - told her that he shot at someone who knocked the Ministerial car's mirror. She nonchalantly said: "He shot at you...", to which Sheehan replied: "No, I shot at him." The reply from the WPC was: "Eh, Ok mela."

How should Joe Public feel about reporting a potential crime to these people? Not very reassured, one would say.

But there was one officer who did do his job that night. He was told by Sheehan that he had shot at someone had smashed the Ministerial car's mirror. The only officer to actually query the gravity of Sheehan's actions was this PC who shouted down the line: "You did what???".

Sheehan goes on into a rant about having the Minister with him and emphasised the point. The officer on the other end said (paraphrased): "I know what you are saying, I know you said about the Minister. Now tell me what car it was and what colour it is."  Sheehan again goes on a rant and again, the PC on the other end of the line tells him to listen to his questions and give him concrete answers. At least one man did his job that night and did not bow down to political pressure. That one officer needs to be identified and commended for his actions in what has become a tragic farce that could be turned into a slapstick comedy movie, if its real life repercussions had not have been so serious.