Legal procurator Peter Paul Zammit has been appointed Commissioner of Police.

The 52-year-old Marsascala resident succeeds John Rizzo, who has been reassigned to head the Civil Protection Department after a 12-year stint at the helm of the police force.

Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Cassar will also be moving desks. He has been appointed head of the Security Service.

It will be Mr Zammit’s second stint within the police force, having previously served for 25 years as an inspector and superintendent before moving into private legal practice in 2009.

He will become Malta’s 10th Police Commissioner since Independence and 32nd overall.

In a statement announcing the three appointments, the Home Affairs Ministry lauded Mr Rizzo, saying he had served “with prudence and dedication”.

Aside from his new role as head of the CPD, Mr Rizzo, a former head of the Criminal Investigation Department, will also advise the Government on internal security issues.

He is the longest-standing Police Commissioner since Vivian de Gray. Mr de Gray had headed the force for 15 years, between 1956 and 1971.

Mr Cassar, 56, from Żabbar, will take over the reins of the Security Service from acting chief Francis Sciberras.

Mr Sciberras had stepped into the role temporarily after the agency’s former head, Godfrey Scicluna, had suspended himself when he had been informed that charges would be pressed against him in connection with a traffic accident in which an elderly man had been seriously injured. Mr Scicluna has since been arraigned.

The Security Service lead role comes after a distinguished 34-year police force career that saw Mr Cassar serve as inspector, superintendent and assistant commissioner.

He has worked within the criminal investigation department, the drug squad and the economic crimes unit and lectures at the Police Academy and the European Training College.