The police must be seen as being clean of partisan sentiments in the course of duty, President Myriam Spiteri Debono said Friday.
Addressing an event marking the 210th anniversary of the setting up of the police corps, Debono said the police must also be removed from the influence of the seats of political power.
The police, in particular commissioner Angelo Gafa, have been criticised for the way they have handled situations linked to people close to the seat of power. Gafa has repeatedly ignored calls for resignation and has recently had his appointment extended by another four years.
In the execution of their duty, the Police Force has had to adapt and conform to widened interpretations of legal concepts, particularly to act in line with the evolution of a deeper and more pronounced approach of what constitutes individual human rights. This emerges most clearly in the Force’s rights of arrest, search, and surveillance, the President said.
Successive administrations, in line with the responsibility for the strategic direction of the Force imposed on the Government by Article 5(1) of the Police Act, have invested in training and equipment in order to enable the Force to carry out its duty in an adequate manner; more investment and better training with regards to technological crimes, crimes connected to money laundering, illegal arms trade, the traffic of human beings, generally crimes, vastly different in their sophistication from the crimes of murder and theft prevailing in previous times.
A 2022 survey by the National Statistics Office, inquiring into the public’s opinion of the Malta Police Force, published in February 2023, found that the majority of respondents have trust in the Malta Police Force. Around 60% claimed the Force has a high level of integrity, and 68% remarked that the Police provide a service of professional standards.
When asked which services should be increased, 80% mentioned the need for more police patrols, Spiteri Debono said.
Regarding Community Policing, naturally, respondents from regions with Community Policing in operation were more aware of the concept than those from regions without such a system in place. It is heartening to hear that Community Policing is expected to encompass all towns and villages by the end of this current year. Community Policing helps in bonding the Police Force with the people.
More needs to be done if the people are to increase their trust in the Police Force as the impartial guardians of their wellbeing, Spiteri Debono said.
From the survey I referred to above, 54.1% of those interviewed considered the Police as impartial enforcers of the law. Surely, better publicity can see this figure increase, especially if impartiality is seen in the context of treatment meted out to suspected erring individuals undergoing investigations.
When the Police Force is faced with allegations of crimes with political overtones, this is delicate and slippery ground. The Police Force has to be extra vigilant that, in the exercise of its powers of investigation, and subsequent decisions whether to proceed to judicial action or not, the people see it as being clean of partisan sentiments and removed from the influence of the seats of political power.
If the people are to treat the discretionary powers of the Police with respect, the Police Force must be seen to be aloof from influences outside itself which may be perceived as tainting its judgement, the President said.
It is not enough that citizens feel safe in their homes and in the streets. The executive duty of the Police to preserve public orders stretches and includes all laws; laws dealing with the usurpation of public authority and the powers thereof, as well as any actions which may threaten the national security of Malta as protected under the Security Service Act.
Debono said the time has come to review the various laws referring to the Police Force, and particularly, to unequivocally and expressly enunciate in the law the autonomous nature of the Police Force in its function and, at the same time, counterbalancing this with the obligations of accountability and impartiality.