The boys and girls in blue

The history of the Malta police academy goes back to 1988, when the then Minister for Home Affairs, Guido de Marco introduced this new concept. The chosen location was Fort St Elmo. The same fort that centuries ago was used to defend our islands was the ideal setting to train our policemen and policewomen to fight criminality.

Many had been sceptical about this concept and many others dismissed the academy as a waste of time. As time passed, it was clear that this was a step in the right direction, a step towards a more prepared, trained and professional force.

Times have changed and long gone are the days when one used to enrol to become a policeman and was given the uniform and assigned one’s duties in a matter of days. Today, it is taken for granted that no one can perform such sensitive tasks without being well prepared.

Times change and needs change too and there was a need to expand the police academy to be able to take the training to new dimensions in order to keep up with the new technology in the fight against criminality. Exactly a month ago, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi laid the foundation stone that marked the building of a new academy. This academy will have the form of a campus and will include dormitories for Gozitan policemen, state-of-the-art training facilities, meeting rooms, shooting ranges and all the other facilities that will make this academy one of the best equipped.

Keeping public peace and order is not an easy task and every day is a challenge for each and every policeman, from constable to commissioner, to be able to keep up with those who have crime on their agenda. Every democratic state recognises the fact that, in order for things to run smoothly, the police force has to be discreet but efficient in its work and this is precisely what we are aiming for. The fine balance between freedom and justice must not be overstepped and this leads to making some difficult choices but it is these same choices that help a society develop into a mature law-abiding community. Failing to reach these targets will undoubtedly mean chaos.

The role of the academy is to prepare those men and women who decide to join the force to be able to react in the correct manner and to be able to tackle the situations they face every day. The academy is the place where the recruits are taught how to enforce the law in the correct manner; otherwise it would be useless for Parliament to pass laws if these are not enforced.

When a policeman is on duty, his major tasks will be crime related. The work varies from keeping rowdy students in order in Paceville to solving more delicate crimes such as homicides, money laundering and contraband. This cements the need to have fully qualified personnel doing the job. Having said this, it is also important to educate our young to respect the members of the police force. Unfortunately, this respect has dwindled in recent years and it is important to give those who keep our lives safe their due credit.

It is true that there was a time when the police force was under the control of a few big heads from the Socialist regime but fortunately those days have gone and we have to look forward with a positive attitude. One cannot write an article about policing without mentioning the important work that Police Commissioner John Rizzo has done during his tenure. Mr Rizzo has tackled challenges such as the adoption of the Shengen convention and the influx of illegal immigrants in a sublime way and, considering the limited resources our police force has, one must say that such situations have been handled in an excellent way by all the members of the force.

Having said all this I am sure that the majority of the Maltese and Gozitans are grateful to the police for the work they carry out. I just hope that all this good work towards our community is given more importance by the media. As citizens we tend to take a lot of things for granted and I am sure there is a lot of police work that for security reasons cannot be mentioned and that without which our lives would be very different.

Let us hope that policing keeps improving and let us start appreciating more the work that the boys and girls in blue do, sometimes with little or no credit.

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.