The behaviour of a handful of police officers should not put the rest of the force in a bad light, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Tuesday, in his first public comments after three officers were charged with potentially racially motivated attacks.   

Fielding questions on Tuesday, Abela sought to put distance between three police officers accused of abducting and assaulting foreign nationals, and the rest of the police force.  

“There are about 5,000 members of the disciplined forces in Malta and the behaviour of three of them cannot reflect on all of them,” he said.  

“The absolute majority do their work with dignity and respect to their oaths of allegiance.”  

Earlier on Tuesday, speaking from the fringe of the same cabinet meeting, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri praised the police administration for the way the case was handled internally and said the fact that police officers had reported their own colleagues showed that there was an effective system to root out racism. 

He said the force has internal structures to assess the situation and if an internal inquiry or report was needed to take a deeper look at what could have gone wrong, he would welcome it.

Abela, meanwhile, ruled out changing the way police officers are onboarded, saying that the system was longstanding and effective.  

Policies, he said, should not change because of single incidents or because of the behaviour of a handful of people. 

That said, those who do not follow their duty or violate their oaths, need to face the law, Abela said. 

He said the fact that police officers were arrested, charged in court, and denied bail, was proof that justice was working effectively.