Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said this evening that reforms were needed in the running of the Security Service to ensure that it focused on its core functions as laid down by the law which established it.

In a speech which ranged from national security to film-making, which are all within his ministerial responsibilities, Dr Mallia said during the Budget debate that the distinction between the roles of the Security Service and the police was blurred, and the Security Service had ignored its important function of establishing security networks, even embarrassing Malta by ignoring invitations for cooperation and information-sharing with overseas security services.

The minister said he has already introduced some measures to improve the way the service operates. Henceforth, he said, whenever the service asks him to sign warrants for communication intercepts, he would do so on watermarked documents which would be numbered and would bear his signature, date and time. He had done so, he said, not because there was some irregularity in the past, but to have stronger safeguards. It was made clear that one could not have a situation where the security service started intercepts without permission and only sought authorisation when the intercepts produced results. 

The minister noted that the law establishing the Security Service was a copy of British legislation, but it excluded the safeguards found in British law, other than for the setting up of a Security Commission.  This, he said, was insufficient and amendments would be made to ensure there were proper safeguards which still enabled the service to function efficiently, effectively and autonomously.

The main purpose of the Security Service, Dr Mallia said, was the security of the state. Drugs could pose a danger to the security of the state, but it should not be the case that 70 per cent of the work of the Service was dedicated to drug crime. 

Indeed, the fact that the service was run by former police officers may be influencing the state of mind of the service and the way it went about its activities. It was inhibiting the service from opening up to whatever was happening beyond Malta's shores and the need to built relations with similar services overseas.

Success for the Security Service could not be measured by the number of drug hauls, but on how many strong networks is was able to forge.

Unfortunately, Malta had been through embarrassing situations where the head of the service had even ignored invitations to strengthen networking. Malta had been shown to be indifferent in an era of international information sharing.

Dr Mallia said he would insist that recruits had a tertiary level of education. It was unacceptable that some people were unable to write a report. Ideally, members of the service should have a background of of international studies to enable them to analyse what was happening abroad. The service also needed people versed in legal affairs and in financial matters for investigation of money laundering.

THE POLICE

One the police force, Dr Mallia said the service needed a radical change of its administrative management. This, he said, did not mean shortcomings by the commissioner or his predecessor, but times had changed and modernisation in management practices was needed. 

There needed to be better strategic planning, not management by crisis. There was a need for job descriptions at all levels, the filling of vacancies and the assignment of the best trained people for particular posts.

He said the new Police Academy building would be opened in two months' time, and he looked forward to it providing comprehensive training, which should also include mock trials. 

Video recording rooms for interrogations have been set up at police headquarters, and others would be set up in some police stations in Malta and in Gozo. A tender has also been awarded for CCTVs at the lock-up and some sections of police headquarters. 

CITIZEN AND EXPATRIATE AFFAIRS

Dr Mallia said the Citizen and Expatriate Affairs Section would be relocated to Evans Building and it would be better resourced. More resources would also be allocated to the visas section.  

IMMIGRATION

On immigration, Dr Mallia said existing policies would continue to be following, with humanitarian assistance being the over-riding priority.

PRISONS

He also spoke of his surprise visit to the prisons on Sunday evening, where he found a warder on her own in the office. On being questioned, she reluctantly told him she was meant to be accompanied by a major, who was not there. When he requested the attendance record, he saw a trend of people reporting for work several hours late and leaving considerably early.  The situation is now under investigation.

PBS AND THE FILM COMMISSION

Dr Mallia said his ministry would not interfere in the operations of PBS, but he had made it clear to the station's officials that the station had to be balanced and impartial. It could not insult the people's intelligence and it could not have a repetition of situations that took place before and during the electoral campaign.

He said PBS was building a sound studio which would also be used by the Film Commission and the film-industry in Malta, a sector which had great potential for Malta.