The public’s trust rating in the police force has this week suffered a double-blow: one in the form of an officer’s confidential personal file having been leaked straight from the police commissioner’s office to a newspaper, and again with revelations that an inspector investigating a murder was in business, along with his family members, with the victim’s family.

Of all the components that comprise the good administration of the country, it is the police force that needs to engender the highest trust among the population.  When there is no one else to turn to, the public must have faith that they can turn to the police, when politicians and public servants err, the country must turn to the police to investigate.

And that is why these revelations are all the more concerning.  They are concerning on the most fundamental level for, if you cannot trust the police to uphold the law within the very halls of the Floriana headquarters, who can you trust? 

The police force absolutely must act quickly to restore the public’s somewhat dented faith in it.

In the first case, it transpires that the former police commissioner had requested the personal file of an officer from the force’s human resources unit and the file was not returned until after that commissioner had left his post, and at a time when that officer himself was at the centre of a controversy surrounding the wrongful arrest of a hold-up suspect.

That file found its way to a newspaper, which proceeded to pen a number of articles about the officer in question and when that officer filed libel proceedings against that newspaper, the newspaper proceeded to present the leaked personal file in court in its defence.  That, in turn, led the aggrieved officer to lodge a complaint with the data protection commissioner about his personal file being handed over to a newspaper.

What matters is that a police officer’s personal file was requested by the police commissioner, copied and handed over, undoubtedly by a member of the police force, to a newspaper editor.

This case will almost certainly be subjected to an internal police inquiry, which will also undoubtedly root out the culprit behind the leak.  This, however, will not suffice to fully restore the public’s faith in the force. 

The new police commissioner himself must act quickly to contain the damage to the force’s reputation and standing in the community, and he must act quickly.  He must also act to rebuild that trust but so far no such action has been forthcoming.

In the second case, a police inspector investigating a murder went on to set up a number of companies with the family involved in the case in direct conflict with police and public administration rules that preclude police officers from being in any kind of business whatsoever without specific clearances, which were not  given according to information this newspaper has. 

Moreover, that Economic Crimes Unit inspector - who was boarded out under strange and preferential circumstances and immediately landed himself a €60,000 job at Enemalta – went into business just two weeks after with an online gaming operator. The ECU is tasked with keeping a watchful eye on and with investigating the sector’s players, specifically when it comes to money laundering activities.

In the first case, the €500 fine meted out by the data protection commissioner to the current police commissioner is a mere pittance compared with the almost irreparable damage done, once again, to the police force’s reputation.

In the second case, the government yesterday said it is seeking advice, including that of the Attorney General, on how to best deal with and investigate the case of the former police officer who was part of the prosecution team in the murder case.

Its final decision, the government said, will be communicated once it is taken.  That decision must be quick so as to limit the damage on the police force’s reputation, which has been taking something of a battering of late.

From the Paul Sheehan and Manuel Mallia debacle to allegations of politically-motivated transfers, promotions and appointments at the police force to similar accusations at the Armed Forces of Malta and the Civil Protection Department, there is clearly a massive and still growing deficit of public trust in the country’s disciplined forces – a deficit that should be addressed even more quickly than the public fiscal deficit.

The deficit that we are speaking of here undermines the very law and order of the country.