More than a week has passed since Yorgen Fenech was acquitted of involvement in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. In that time, there has been no shortage of reactions. Politicians have spoken, political parties have issued statements, commentators have dissected the verdict, and the media has continued to scrutinise what happened during the two-month trial.

There has, however, been one notable and deeply troubling absence: the police.

The silence from the Malta Police Force since the verdict has been deafening.

Any police commissioner worth his salt, in a country that genuinely believes in justice and the rule of law, should have addressed the nation immediately after the verdict. A press conference the following day - if not on the evening of the verdict itself - would have been entirely justified.

The commissioner should have told the country what the police intended to do next.

This is particularly important because the judge who presided over the trial has passed on the acts of the case to the police for further investigation into leads that emerged during the evidence heard in court.

Yet the police have said nothing about this.

That leaves legitimate questions which the public deserves to have answered. Is the judge's direction being acted upon, or are the acts of the case sitting in a drawer or on a shelf somewhere? Is the police force actively examining the information that emerged during the trial? Or is nothing happening at all?

And why would the police have needed the judge to formally pass on the acts before pursuing leads that were openly discussed during two months of testimony? Surely investigators were following the proceedings and taking note of information that could potentially be relevant, not only to the murder investigation, but on other matters which were potentially criminal?

These are not unreasonable questions. They are questions about whether the State is doing everything possible to establish the full truth about Daphne's assassination.

The police did not exactly come out of the trial with their reputation enhanced. The evidence placed the former police commissioner, a former assistant commissioner and other senior figures within the force under an uncomfortable spotlight. Their conduct while in office was questioned and criticised, adding to the damage already done to public confidence in the institution.

That is an uncomfortable past which the police is confronting.

But the more important question now is what happens from this point onwards.

Yes, there are people serving prison sentences for their roles in Daphne's murder. That is significant. But the Fenech trial produced evidence and revelations that cannot simply be filed away because the jury returned an acquittal.

An acquittal does not mean that every question raised during the trial has disappeared. Nor does it absolve the police of the responsibility to investigate information that could lead to a fuller understanding of what happened.

And this is where the police's silence becomes so difficult to understand.

Commissioner Angelo Gafà should have the courage to face the media and reassure the public that the force is not immune to what was said in court. He should explain, without compromising any investigation, that the information emerging from the trial is being assessed and followed up.

The police have often told journalists that they cannot comment on investigations because doing so could prejudice proceedings. That is understandable. Investigations cannot be conducted through press conferences.

But this is different.

Nobody is asking the commissioner to reveal operational details, identify suspects, or disclose investigative strategies. The public is asking for a simple reassurance that the police are doing their job.

After everything that has happened, the police cannot expect people simply to assume that they are doing their job.

The State owes Daphne Caruana Galizia's family, and the Maltese public, nothing less than the pursuit of the full truth.

Silence is not reassurance.

And after the Fenech acquittal, the police have been conspicuously, and worryingly, silent.