International Police Association Malta Section's 44th birthday

The Permanent Executive Bureau, the international body that governs the International Police Association, will be holding its first meeting for next year in Malta between March 4 and 8. This is an honour for Malta Section, and the executive committee will be looking forward to greeting our colleagues on their first-ever visit to Malta.

All previous commission group's meetings held in Malta were a big success and members remained impressed. The PEB meeting in Malta is not going to be an exception and the committee is already planning the programme.

The International Police Association, Malta Section is an association within the police force and is affiliated with an international body. Malta Section was accepted as a full member of IPA on April 30, 1964, during the world congress held in Blackpool, after submitting a formal request for full membership before independence.

The International Police Association - the largest police organisation in the world - is a voluntary association and knows its origin a few years after World War II. It started in 1950 when Sergeant Arthur Troop from Lincolnshire, England, came up with the idea to create a channel for friendship and international cooperation among police officers.

At first Sgt Troop encountered considerable resistance to his idea, even from his own superior officers. However, his notion of an association for the development of social, cultural and professional links among its members, in an environment free from discrimination of ranks, sex, race, colour, language or religion, soon materialised. After the first meetings with a few foreign colleagues, the IPA message quickly took hold and the formation of new sections throughout the world became rapid. Present membership is in excess of 400,000, with 61 national sections worldwide.

IPA is governed by an international body which is composed of eight members, elected by the delegates every three years during a world congress. Michael Odysseus of Cyprus is the international president who is in his third term of office. The PEB meetings are held in different countries, three times a year. Malta Section is made up mainly of serving and retired members of the police force, although there are exceptions when employees working with the police may be considered for membership. The section is autonomous and it is governed by the national executive committee which is elected every three years. The fundamental principles and aims of the association are derived from its motto in Esperanto - Servo Per Amikeco - Service Through Friendship.

These include encouraging exchange visits of individuals and groups, promoting respect for law and order among national sections, developing social and cultural activities and encourage the exchange of professional experiences, enhancing the image of the police in the countries of its sections and improving relations with the public, fostering youth exchanges and international youth meetings, facilitating a regular exchange of publications between the national sections and assisting and aiding members in catastrophic situations or when hit by natural disasters.

Being a non-profitable association, Malta Section's only source of income is the membership fee which, when compared with what members pay in other national sections, is second to none. Like most associations in Malta, financially the section is rather limited and restricted in its operation. When delegates participate at international meetings abroad, they usually do so at their own expense because the section is not in a position to cover the travelling costs. Nevertheless, although such difficulties exist and Malta is one of the smallest sections, whenever our delegates attend for such meetings they are respected, productive and match well with the rest of the delegates. So much so that during the world congress held in Slovenia in 2006, one of our members was elected as one of the two internal auditors for the PEB.

During these years every executive committee tried its best to develop Malta Section and improve its position. There were times when this was achieved and times when progress did not reach the desired level. But through perseverance and hard work, slowly but steadily, along the years Malta Section managed to register progress especially on the international front.

Malta Section - apart from rendering assistance to its members, locally and when travelling abroad, especially for health reasons - managed to contribute towards the tourist industry by encouraging and bringing to our shores a good number of IPA groups from different countries. Assistance to individuals spending their holidays on the island was even greater, not to mention a day's stopover by foreign colleagues at Grand harbour, while cruising the Mediterranean.

Through its committee and members, Malta Section is quietly performing considerable good work on a voluntary basis to the community. The executive committee would like to thank all those individuals and institutions who from time to time have supported and helped our association.

Any police officers interested and wanting to know more about IPA are welcome to call at the IPA office at police headquarters in Floriana during office hours or send an e-mail to ipamalta@gov.mt.

Mr Bugeja is president, IPA Malta Section