Over the past few days many calls have been made for the Police Commissioner’s head to roll. This newspaper was the first to do so in an editorial. 

Lawrence Cutajar was never a popular choice to lead the Malta Police Force, but his apparent inaction over the bombshell claims that Michelle Muscat is the owner of Egrant Inc, and the equally outrageous claims that Keith Schembri received kickbacks from Brian Tonna, were the icing on the cake. 

The commissioner was ridiculed for attending a fenkata in Mgarr while the chairman of the now famous Pilatus Bank and an aide were acting very suspiciously while exiting from the back door carrying two heavy pieces of luggage. The commissioner repeatedly told a Net TV reporter that he knows exactly what his job is, what his responsibilities are, but many of us are highly doubtful of that. 

Lawrence Cutajar has not been police chief for long. He succeeded Michael Cassar, who succeeded Ray Zammit, who succeeded Peter Paul Zammit, who succeeded John Rizzo. 

Rizzo was a well-respected officer but all of his successors have been criticized for failing to take action on serious accusations which were, in some way, related to politicians. 

The latest is the revelation  that the police were asked, by the FIAU, to further investigations into the Prime Minister’s top aide Keith Schembri. Michael CMr Cassar resigned the day after the report was delivered. 

Claims of inaction are not the only reason why people have lost faith in the police. That process started just days after the election, when a ‘cleansing’ exercise took place within the Mobile Squad (now Rapid Intervention Unit). This is sad when considering that the current Minister for Home Affairs has been taking his job  very seriously and gave back some credibility to the role which has been under fire since the days of former Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici and continued to be controversial under Manuel Mallia.

Cutajar is the fifth police commissioner to serve under the PL government, which has only just turned four. Replacing will not solve the credibility problem gripping the force – it will not stop people from calling the MPF the Malta Police Farce, and the RIU the Rabbit Intervention Unit.

What is needed is a radical shake-up of the whole system, increased autonomy for the force an end to political appointments, for that is exactly how police commissioners are appointed – by the ruling party. All of the above have been mentioned by Inspector Sandro Camilleri, President of the police union, during INDEPTH some weeks ago.

The force needs to start working on rebuilding its image, from the ground up. It is useless to invest millions in new cars, new uniforms (which made the RIU people look more like paramilitaries, rather than police officers) when the reputation is at its worst level for decades. 

Under normal circumstances the police would embark on a public relations exercise, to win back the trust of the public, but these are not normal circumstances. The force must prove that its leadership and all of its sections are free from political interference, that they will investigate serious claims no matter who is at the receiving end, even if it is the Prime Minister himself. Only then will people feel that they are being protected by those whose motto is ‘domine dirige nos.’

Police officers who spoke to this newsroom said they were disgusted at how the entire force was made to look bad because of the decisions taken by a few. 

One wonders why the police officers’ unions, the POU-GWU, hashave done nothing to stand up for these officers and has not urged the commissioner to resign. The POU-GWU, for instance, union had previously been highly critical of the police leadership and had stuck its neck out to protect the reputation of the force (remember the manhandling incident in Valletta?), but this time round, instead of protecting these same officers, has taken the commissioner’s side instead and pledged support to him in a statement . Let us hope that it is not doing this simply because its master, the GWU, is the Labour Party’s bedfellow. 

The police force had already managed to regain its credibility after the terrible 70s and 80s, and it can do it again, but only if it is freed from political control.