Updated 7.32pm with minister's reaction below.

New squads which the government is planning to set up within the police will unduly burden the force and should be handled by other agencies instead,  the shadow minister for home affairs, Joe Giglio, told parliament on Wednesday.

Speaking in the budget debate, he observed that in the Budget speech, the government said it was planning to set up a squad of patrol and community support officers and a Roads Policing Unit, both within the police force.

The first would be responsible for high visibility patrols and the second would, among other things, be responsible for ensuring that roads were quickly reopened after accidents, and the causes of traffic accidents were investigated.

Both roles, Giglio said, could be handled by officials who were not sworn-in policemen. That was the case in the UK with regard to community policing, and issues related to traffic accidents could be handled by Transport Malta’s enforcement section.

The police force, he stressed, was already overworked and overstretched. Lessons should have been learnt from what happened when the community policing unit was set up, depleting the police force in various areas.  

“We are dismantling cathedrals to build chapels,” he warned.

Similarly, he continued, various other duties currently being handled by police officers, such as office work, could be handled by civilians instead of the police, enabling the officers to focus on policing duties.

The police force, Giglio said, was not only overworked and overstretched, but it was also underpaid. While it was good that a new collective agreement had been concluded and conditions had been improved, it was far too little. Police officers felt demotivated when they compared their pay with what officials in other agencies received.

Police officers’ pay was so low that many were leaving the force, and recruitment drives were not achieving the desired results.

One way how the police could retain experienced police officers was for these officers to be given their pension even when they did not take up the option to leave the force after 25 years of service. It made no sense to hand a pension to officers who left the force after 25 years to work in the private sector when they could continue to work in the force.

The recruitment failure, he said, could be seen in the absence of sufficiently qualified personnel in sufficient numbers within the FCID (the unit which investigates financial crime)

Standards were also falling at the training academy, which, Giglio said, lacked the infrastructure for its current role.     

“Standards are falling in a bid to attract and retain personnel, instead of improving conditions and administration to achieve that same aim,” he said.

He urged the minister of home affairs not to rely on statistics which may show confidence in the police force and security in the country. Those statistics may be misleading or incomplete, he said, more so as unprovoked violent incidents seemed to be on the increase, even though many went unreported.

Definition of domestic violence is 'too wide' 

Near the end of his speech Giglio also referred briefly to domestic violence and suggested amendments to narrow the definition. As it were, he said, the definition was so wide that it was creating a heavy workload on the police and the law courts.

Giglio was followed by Nationalist MP Graziella Attard Previ who underscored the need for better resources in the police force and the law courts to tackle domestic violence to ensure that victims found immediate protection and those who went to court were administered justice without delay. 

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said while this had been a ‘social’ budget, it also featured a strong financial allocation in security and the uniformed services.

A silent revolution had been carried out, giving new rights and conditions to services personnel including better pay, and pensions adjusted for the cost of living. Earlier the same personnel were given the right to be represented by a trade union. Under PN governments, the police were not even paid for overtime work. So how could PN speakers be believed now?    

The police were also being given better tools and equipment to perform their duties, with spending having more than doubled for the purpose.

New police squads

As for the plans for the setting up of the new squads, Camilleri said the new roads squad would have a role different from Transport Malta’s. TM was not involved in criminal investigations, as the police were, he said, and the new squad would be able to give better input in magisterial inquiries.

Furthermore, the Patrol and Community Officers would not constitute a new squad as the Opposition’s shadow minister had said. Rather, based on the example in the UK, these officers would be a new grade below that of constable. They would carry out high-visibility patrolling in sensitive areas.

Community policing, the minister said, was popular and much in demand by mayors. It gave the police a proactive and visible role, without diminishing the investigative role. Community policing would indeed be spread across Malta. Unfortunately, he said, it was not clear what the Opposition wanted in this area.

The minister said the Opposition was ignoring important developments, such as the police successes against organised crime and how every murder in the past four years was solved.

Turning to the armed forces, Camilleri said soldiers too enjoyed better pay and conditions, In 2024 the AFM would commission a new joint operations centre and a new hangar for the Air Wing, a total investment of €12 million. The Maritime Squadron recently commissioned a new purpose-built patrol boat and plans were now being prepared for the acquisition of new aircraft.

In the Civil Protection Department, investment in personnel, training and equipment meant that for the first time, in the past few months, Maltese rescuers served when disasters hit Turkey, Greece and Libya. Gone was the time of second-hand equipment and uniforms.

Turning to correctional services, he said the focus was on rehabilitation but also order.  A new half-way house had been opened for prisoners to live in the community near the end of their term, to facilitate their reintegration. A new facility had also been set up to enable prisoners to meet their children in an atmosphere that was conducive to the children.

Security cameras in four localities

The year 2024 would be an important year for restorative justice with reforms planned after consultations with the public including those who worked with prisoners.  

Next year would see further investment in technology.  Lesa would invest in cameras in four localities to deter and detect abuse and crime. They would be located in Paceville, Buġibba/St Paul’s Bay, Marsa and Paola

.As part of measures to tackle domestic violence, electronic tagging would be introduced next year. Victims of domestic violence would also be handed alarms which,  when pressed, would silently alert the police.  

A hub for victims of domestic violence would open in the coming weeks in Sta Luċija and another would open in Mtarfa, providing security and support to those who needed it.

The Victim Support Agency had assisted over 3,000 people in just over three years, Camilleri said, and a hotline service would be extended round the clock next year. Turning to irregular migration, he said Malta had a fair system for both those deserving of protection.

Furthermore, a Returns Unit this year would set a record of persons being sent to their country of origin as compared to arrivals. Facilities had been improved for migrants awaiting repatriation.