The new commissioner of police, Angelo Gafà, has publicly acknowledged that the force has a credibility problem. He deserves to be given a fair chance to do what he says he is confident can be done: restore people’s trust “by time” and “when they start seeing results”.

Time, unfortunately, is not on his side. Calls from various quarters for the police to seriously investigate and prosecute people in high places, whose names have surfaced in corruption cases and in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, went mainly unheeded as one officer handed over the reins of the police force to another.

Gafà is the seventh man to head the corps since the Labour Party was swept to power in 2013 and he cannot waste any time to prove that, as the force’s motto declares, it is the Lord – or righteousness – that guides the police and nobody else. His knowledge of how the force operates, what its Achilles’ heel is, who can be trusted and to what extent, is an advantage he can use to his own and the corps’ benefit, but more importantly, to see to it that the rule of law is upheld.

One of his very first decisions was to relieve assistant police commissioner Ian Abdilla of his duties as head of the economic crimes unit.

He pointed out that it was not because Abdilla had done anything wrong “but, at this point, we must send a clear signal that things will change” – that shortcomings must be addressed “immediately”.

Gafà also admitted he was worried by the close link between former deputy police commissioner Silvio Valletta and Yorgen Fenech, who allegedly commissioned Caruana Galizia’s murder.

The new commissioner’s openness and communication with the public through crime conferences and media updates is a most welcome development. In his attempt to restore public confidence, though, he must lose no time in cleaning the Augean stables by setting the ball rolling for action to be taken in terms of the Police Act against officers – and not just Abdilla – who, at least prima facie, have brought the force’s name into ill repute.

That law allows the prime minister, on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission, to remove from office a police officer who, in the public interest, should no longer serve as a member.

If there are even the slightest indications of any criminal violations, prosecutions must also ensue.

Gafà’s first task should be to ensure that all his men and women are able and willing to fulfil their duties without fear and favour. With his mind at rest on this count, he can then ensure his police force will thoroughly investigate all the allegations made – including those involving politicians, civil servants, persons of trust, etc – and proceed with prosecutions when necessary.

That is how public trust will be regained, for, as Sir Robert Peel, founder of the British Bobby, had enunciated in his 1829 principles of law enforcement, the “ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police existence, actions, behaviour and the ability of the police to secure and maintain public respect”.

At the end of the day, again quoting Sir Robert, the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder – and this should be from top to bottom, at all levels of society – not just the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.

This is Gafà’s baptism of fire. He ought to constantly bear in mind that police internal affairs are of public interest too.