It was encouraging hearing Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa’ tell the state broadcaster most of the force’s 2,400 members go beyond their call of duty to serve the people.
That is what this country deserves and expects.
As President Myriam Spiteri Debono said during a ceremony marking the 210th anniversary of the corps, the main objectives of the police force include the well-being of citizens and the preservation of peace and public order.
The way in which most police officers deal with the public on a daily basis is generally satisfactory. That is why the public is usually very positive when asked by pollsters about the level of trust in the police.
What is wrong with the police are not the ‘foot soldiers’ who, not rarely, even put their life on the line to serve the community and remain loyal to their oath of office. It is the cardinal sins – whether because of dereliction of duty or worse – of the top brass.
Silly mistakes in charge sheets, messing up prosecutions and unreasonable delays are bad enough. However, sitting pretty and waiting for the outcome of magisterial inquiries into high profile cases and not even investigating is unpardonable.
In a disciplined force like the police, with a clear chain of command, the rank and file, however frustrated they may be, are unlikely to simply walk up to a superior enquiring why somebody in the corridors of power is not being investigated. Those who would have had enough are probably forced to resign. The best elements are, thus, lost.
Somebody else would have to take up the cudgel.
None other than the president and Archbishop Charles Scicluna just did that, on the force’s anniversary.
The president made the point that the police have a duty “to prevent and to detect and investigate offences, to collect evidence”, with the aim “to bring offenders [...] before the judicial authorities”.
She did stress that, by law, the government is responsible for the forces’ strategy direction.
But she also made a bold recommendation: “I venture to point out that, perhaps, 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.”
As the Italians would say, a buon intenditore poche parole, a word to the wise.
The archbishop was, perhaps, even more blunt when he spoke about “the protection of legality in our country, prosecution and the investigation of those who damage the social fabric and destroy our reputation...”
He had a wise word of advice to police officers: not to be corrupted by a climate they must fight against and neither to be an accomplice through silence, incompetence or lack of enthusiasm.
A loaded statement, indeed.
The party in opposition, of course, has a leading role to play, including by keeping the government on its toes and by continuously breathing down the neck of the police force leadership.
It must make it a point to use every means at its disposal to ensure that the police fulfil their duties scrupulously.
Ultimately, the strongest and most vociferous should, of course, be the people, directly and through civil society. As the president correctly noted, it is not enough that citizens feel safe in their homes and in the streets, which appears to be the police commissioner’s main yardstick.