Police investment in credibility, transparency

The police force is celebrating its 197th anniversary at a time that follows an important judgement by the Constitutional Court. The court ruled that the rights of a man accused of drug trafficking were breached when the police questioned him and took a statement from him without giving him access to a lawyer. The accused has now become the first person to be acquitted on these gounds.

What led to this turning point in Maltese legal history is a provision in the law allowing suspects to speak to their lawyers before being questioned. This provision formed part of legal changes enacted by Parliament in 2002, albeit having been activated only in February of last year. It is also in line with a broad agreement reached in 2009 by EU member states allowing suspects to consult a lawyer before being interrogated.

The police criminal investigation units must now adapt to this new reality and the bigger challenges it may represent in their very difficult but most necessary and much appreciated work.

They also have to keep in mind that the November 2009 EU roadmap to foster protection of suspected and accused persons in criminal proceedings has now produced a European Commission proposal, yet to be examined and pursued, granting suspects across the 27 member states the right to have a lawyer present during police interrogation.

The police anniversary activities should serve as an occasion for the force to show the public what new efforts it is making to build more skills and foster greater dedication to being of service and building a safer society for all.

It is the duty of the executive police to preserve public order and peace, to prevent, detect and investigate offences, to collect evidence and bring the offenders, whether principals or accomplices, before the judicial authorities. Of course, officers do a lot more than that, however mundane such duties may be.

But the challenges that engage the talents and commitment of members of the force in the exercise of these duties, of maintaining law and order and protecting the inalienable freedom and security of everyone, especially the vulnerable and honest citizen, are no easy task.

The tasks policemen and policewomen undertake in a normal day’s work are many and varied, occasionally trivial but more often than not dangerous and tragic. To many they spend the day fighting crime, maintaining peace and order. Few realise they are often the ones that report mundane but essential shortcomings like faulty traffic lights, damaged water mains, an overgrown tree causing a bottleneck or bumper-to-bumper collisions that cause huge traffic jams. Their work shifts have an impact too both on them and their families.

The challenges facing the police force are immense. Nonetheless, the officers must not be discouraged. The work done day in day out by so many generous men and women in uniform deserves the esteem of the public. That same esteem is in itself confirmation of how high the people’s expectations are vis-à-vis the police.

The image of the police in the public eye, therefore, stands to benefit even further if the force takes advantage of these activities to let the community it serves understand how it is addressing the new, or relatively new, forms and levels of crime and the evolving legal provisions, as well as how it is investing more in its resources and performance as an effective, credible and transparent institution.