The contract of Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà is about to expire. The question is: should he be retained or should a fresh call for applications be made?
Over the past four years, this career police officer and former CEO of the corps faced serious criticism and calls for resignation as the force was repeatedly accused of being keener in catching the small fry than netting the big fish.
The Nationalist Party insists his contract should not be renewed because, on his watch, “serious deficiencies” led to a lack of enforcement and demoralised police officers.
Gafà is known to be a top-notch investigator who constantly insists on going by the book and doing one’s duty without fear or favour.
This is why many heaved a collective sigh of relief when he was chosen after at least two of his predecessors notoriously brought the corps into total disrepute.
Sadly, as the years ticked on, whether by commission or by omission, as one scandal followed another in the corridors of power, the commissioner appeared increasingly inept.
Whether because he in/directly failed to ensure the force did its duty to investigate and prosecute without loss of time or because he allowed officers to mess up, the buck stops at the police chief’s desk.
It is an open secret that the police corps is grossly under-resourced, demoralised and underpaid, with some of its best talent quitting for other jobs.
But the issue remains that there are a list of instances whereby the police messed up the prosecution in criminal cases, leading to acquittal. The list over the past four years is quite long.
We continue seeing too many episodes of citizens in distress feeling they were let down by the country’s utmost institution responsible for law and order.
The office of the police commissioner is arguably one of the toughest jobs on the island, especially when you are sorely lacking the support structure, and during a time of unprecedented high-profile corruption cases
In high-profile cases, such as the Vitals/Steward inquiry, law-abiding citizens are justified in wondering why the police preferred to adopt a passive approach, even failing to investigate.
A police inspector testified in court that his superiors and the police commissioner issued instructions not to hold a parallel investigation (with the magisterial inquiry).
For anybody following the proceedings at home, it seems the police completely washed their hands off one of the biggest criminal cases in history.
It was only on Tuesday that Gafà broke his silence and told the court that the police could not investigate the Vitals deal because they had no access to financial documents seized as part of a magisterial inquiry.
Still, the fact remains there was nothing stopping the police from carrying out its own investigation, as there should have been. We are here talking about the biggest political scandal of a generation.
When he took office, Gafà pledged better communication channels with the public and even organise periodic press briefings. But he continues to avoid direct contact with the press, which means legitimate questions have remained unanswered, or else paved the way for accusations of incompetence, or worse, political interference.
A five-year transformation strategy launched by the corps in 2020 declared: “Our vision is for the community to trust us in ensuring a safe and secure society for everyone.” In its introduction, Gafà had said: “Police are a central element within a democracy, and the functions of the Malta Police revolve around the betterment of Maltese society.”
The office of the police commissioner is arguably one of the toughest jobs on the island, especially when you are sorely lacking the support structure, and during a time of unprecedented high-profile corruption cases.
At this delicate stage, the country needs to know that it can rely on its police force because the heat in the kitchen is not going to cool down any time soon.