Members of the media were invited by the Malta Police Force on Thursday to receive the same lecture given to police recruits on how local police use force while on the job.
The police stressed that they only use force when necessary and proportional to what they encounter, i.e., when someone – including the police officer, the subject, or anyone else – may be at risk of injury or death.
Briefing the media on behalf of the police corps was Inspector David Bugeja, assisted by Sergeant Isaac Farrugia. The idea behind this briefing was to show, through an insider’s view, how Maltese police react to dangerous situations and what goes through their heads in these quick moments.
To do this, media members present at the Academy for Disciplined Forces in Ta’ Kandja, Siggiewi, on Thursday were shown what all police can keep on their holsters, how and when they are used, as well as bodycam footage of real-life scenarios where police’s split-second decisions were analysed.
“The whole point is escalation and de-escalation,” Inspector Bugeja said, noting that the presence of a police officer escalates a situation to some degree.
Inspector Bugeja stated that, for Maltese police, the use of firearms is only called for when someone’s life is at stake – so much so that the police simply refer to this as “use of deadly force.” Meanwhile, batons, pepper spray, and tasers are at their disposal to calm down aggression or danger.
He said that in face of an imminent threat, police officers are trained to only resort to their firearms with the intent of de-escalating a situation by taking someone’s life. He added that what is often seen in films and TV series, i.e., police shooting at vehicle tyres or aiming and firing at a subject’s arms or legs to subdue them, is unrealistic and not done in reality.
This briefing taught members of the media about the police’s use of force policy, as well as the instructions and scenarios in which police are allowed to use force, and how.
Bugeja stressed that unlike what is practised by police in different parts of the globe, in Malta, police do not flash their weapons in all scenarios in case something happens, as this would result in pushing citizens away from the police.
Police try to deal with every situation depending on how far it has escalated. The direst situations call for deadly force, though less dangerous scenarios call for alternatives to firearms, hard physical control, soft physical control (e.g., simply restraining someone), and just communicating.
During this briefing, Bugeja noted that it can be very easy to judge footage of police in action – especially as this footage would almost never show the full context behind the situation. He also mentioned that firing a taser is unideal if the perpetrator is near anyone else or right by a wall.
Inspector Bugeja stated that police must be careful when even drawing any of their weapons, be it a baton, pepper spray, a taser, or a handgun, as the sighting of a weapon can instantly garner combative reactions.
“Police are given options, not weapons,” Bugeja said.
Media members were also briefed about the ramifications behind using each weapon and how some options are less viable than others depending on the situation. Aside from the danger of handguns, as one example, Bugeja said that it’s far from ideal to use pepper spray on someone wielding a knife, as this could just enrage them and result in them swinging for the fences, rather than incapacitating them – especially since pepper spray burns its victims for half an hour with no immediate remedy.
Bugeja mentioned other physical restraint and control devices have on their person as well, such as a single pair of handcuffs, leg restraints, single-use plastic restraints (zip ties) for multiple arrests, and disposable spit guards (a netting placed over someone’s head) for when a detained person keeps spitting at law enforcement officers.
Police are also allowed to give physical strikes to subdue or incapacitate someone out of control.
Other available, though less used, uses of force at the police’s disposal are vehicle manoeuvres to stop fleeing vehicles, the deployment of K9 units, and mounted units on horses.
Police tasers to be upgraded, Minister says
At the end of this briefing, the Minister for Home Affairs, Glenn Bedingfield, told journalists that members of the local corps will soon be receiving more efficient models of tasers to carry on their holsters.
With these discussions still ongoing, the Minister shared that a decision has been reached for police tasers to be upgraded to more effective models so that policemen and policewomen are better equipped while enforcing the law and subduing uncooperative and dangerous subjects.
During this briefing, Inspector Bugeja stressed that many key moments taken by police are taken through split-second decisions whilst constantly analysing the environment around them.
Bugeja also mentioned that “tasers do not resolve situations as easily as people think.” Noting that tasers don’t work half the time in his experience, bodycam footage shown to journalists on Thursday showed several instances where aggressive people were subdued via shock though in at least one example only because two police officers fired at the same subject and only one of the tasers was therefore effective.
Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà, like Bugeja earlier, stated that it’s easy for people to be keyboard warriors when viewing police footage from a screen and that he hopes that people can appreciate the difficulty that police officers find themselves in, given the nature of their work.