Speech by President of Malta Myriam Spiteri Debono at the Celebration of the 210th Anniversary of the establishment of the Malta Police Force

Honourable Minister Dr Byron Camilleri, Minister for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality of Malta

Commissioner of Police, Mr Angelo Gafà

Excellencies

Members of the Malta Police Force

Distinguished guests,

The Malta Police Force in its present format saw its inception in 1814, under the governorship of Sir Thomas Maitland.

It is a civil, not a military force, and generally speaking, its mandate has always been the safety and wellbeing of the populace, and the safeguarding of law and order.

The main objectives of the Police Force are those delineated in Article 4 of the Police Act, Chapter 164 of the Laws of Malta. These objectives include the wellbeing of citizens, as well as the preservation of public order and peace.

Concomitant with these objectives arising from the Police Act, Article 346 of the Laws of Criminal Procedure states that it is the duty of the Police “to prevent and to detect and investigate offences, to collect evidence”, and this with the aim “to bring offenders [...] before the judicial authorities”.

This is the investigative and prosecuting role of the Police. In the execution of this duty, the Police Force has had to adapt and conform to widened interpretations of legal concepts, particularly to act in line with the evolution of a deeper and more pronounced approach of what constitutes individual human rights. This emerges most clearly in the Force’s rights of arrest, search, and surveillance.

Successive administrations, in line with the responsibility for the strategic direction of the Force imposed on the Government by Article 5(1) of the Police Act, have invested in training and equipment in order to enable the Force to carry out its duty in an adequate manner; more investment and better training with regards to technological crimes, crimes connected to money laundering, illegal arms trade, the traffic of human beings, generally crimes, vastly different in their sophistication from the crimes of murder and theft prevailing in previous times.

I listened attentively to the Commissioner’s speech, and I was pleased to note that the Commissioner appears satisfied with the service provided by the Police Force and the results the Force has achieved in solving crime. This, in spite of a growing population, increased diversity of race, and an influx of tourists.

A 2022 survey by the National Statistics Office, inquiring into the public’s opinion of the Malta Police Force, published in February 2023, found that the majority of respondents have trust in the Malta Police Force. Around 60% claimed the Force has a high level of integrity, and 68% remarked that the Police provide a service of professional standards.

When asked which services should be increased, 80% mentioned the need for more police patrols.

Regarding Community Policing, naturally, respondents from regions with Community Policing in operation were more aware of the concept than those from regions without such a system in place. It is heartening to hear that Community Policing is expected to encompass all towns and villages by the end of this current year. Community Policing helps in bonding the Police Force with the people.

Visibility and information engender trust. They are necessary tools if the people are to feel, at first hand, that the Police Force takes the maxim of “min-nies għan-nies”, adopted by the Force on its two hundredth anniversary, seriously.

The introduction of an information unit has been an important step in better exposure of the work of the Police Force, and has been instrumental in making people more aware that the Force is there for their benefit.

However, more needs to be done if the people are to increase their trust in the Police Force as the impartial guardians of their wellbeing.

From the survey I referred to above, 54.1% of those interviewed considered the Police as impartial enforcers of the law. Surely, better publicity can see this figure increase, especially if impartiality is seen in the context of treatment meted out to suspected erring individuals undergoing investigations.

I appreciate the problems encountered by the Police in the exercise of their duties. The official motto of the Police Force, adopted from the very beginning of its existence, is “Domine dirige nos” – Lord, guide us.

Divine guidance is nowhere more necessary than when the Police Force is faced with allegations of crimes with political overtones.

This is delicate and slippery ground. The Police Force has to be extra vigilant that, in the exercise of its powers of investigation, and subsequent decisions whether to proceed to judicial action or not, the people see it as being clean of partisan sentiments and removed from the influence of the seats of political power.

If the people are to treat the discretionary powers of the Police with respect, the Police Force must be seen to be aloof from influences outside itself which may be perceived as tainting its judgement.

It is not enough that citizens feel safe in their homes and in the streets.

The executive duty of the Police to preserve public orders stretches and includes all laws; laws dealing with the usurpation of public authority and the powers thereof, as well as any actions which may threaten the national security of Malta as protected under the Security Service Act. 

This is a very heavy load.

Successive administrations have to ensure that the Police Force is fully equipped and trained to fulfil its myriad duties.

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.

I am raising this point because it appears to me that, somehow, we are relying on conventional norms and perceptions to describe the institutional character of the Force.

This should not in any way be regarded as interfering with Article 5(1) of the Police Act, which lays down that the Government shall be responsible for the strategy direction of the Force.

Our Police Force merits all the assistance it needs to fulfil its functions.

Throughout its existence, the Police Force has effectively met the people’s expectations, particularly in those instances where the safety of the populace and the safeguarding of law and order are concerned.

Most times, its members have shown that they perform their duties beyond the call of duty.

For this, the people are and should be perennially grateful!