Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela has declared himself against the idea of appointing a police commissioner through a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

"If the Commissioner is appointed through this method, how will he be removed?" he asked. He mentioned that Parliament is the legislator and government is the executive. Such a move would mix the role of Parliament, which is meant to be the watchdog of the executive". The Minister also questioned who the Commissioner will respond to, Parliament or Government?. "I feel there would be more difficulties when it comes to appointing a Commissioner through this system. We need to see why this proposal was made".

The proposal to appoint a police chief through Parliament was made by the Opposition.

The minister also said that there were 19 applicants for the position of CEO of the police force. The application period has now closed. 

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said that Mr Bartolo’s position confirms the hard headedness of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in persisting to give jobs to the boys.

The PN said that after the resignation of the fourth Police Commissioner in this legislature, Simon Busuttil made a proposal for the fifth commissioner to be appointed by a two-thirds majority vote in parliament. The PN said that would ensure that the eventual appointee would be truly impartial.

The PN said that the only reason why the Prime Minister does not take up the proposal is because his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Minister Konrad Mizzi do not want their accounts in Panama to be investigated. 

The minister was presenting the conclusions of a questionnaire to police officers which was sent last September, who responded anonymously, and this survey will help in the creation of a strategy for the force. 

The minister said that currently the police have no strategy, and that it never has had one, stating that this is a main factor in the low morale of the Corps.

Together with Professor Saviour Formosa, they outlined a number of issues currently present within the force, such as decision making being top heavy. They envision lower and mid-tier ranks, like inspectors, being able to take more decisions, rather than waiting for orders from up top. They also said that currently, while orders are taken from the higher ranks, blame is also pushed down the ranks, and Professor Formosa mentioned the need for a change in mentality. 

The minister also plans to make certain changes to police legislation, as currently, he said, only the police commissioner is in charge of formulating strategies for the force.

One of the main ideas that the strategy will encompass is the modernisation of the Corps. The minister also mentioned that, for example, a review should take place of the current specialist departments and of police stations themselves, to see exactly how many constables, inspectors etc should be working in each individual department. He mentioned that the Cybercrime unit could use more personnel.

Another key proposal is to make better use of existing personnel, by possibly relieving them of administrative duties which would be handed over to civilians. This, it was said, could result in an extra 600 police officers being able to exclusively focus on police work.

Officers, in the survey, complained about lack of continuous training throughout their career, the need for proper counselling, and the need for training for when dealing with the families of victims.

Working towards the strategy, the Minister also visited all police stations around the island, and spoke with officers from all ranks.

Asked about the post of a new police commissioner, he said that one will be announced in a few weeks, but stressed that the decision as to who it will be will remain with the Prime Minister, according to law.