The country should consider the way how the Police Commissioner is appointed, with the ideal formula being that of agreement between the government and the opposition, PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said this evening.

Speaking in parliament, he said the recent experience in the wake of the shooting incident by the driver of the former home affairs minister, as well as the fact that Malta had had four police commissioners in 20 months should be a wake up call.

In the same way as the government and the opposition jointly appointed the Ombudsman and the Auditor General, among others, the time had come to consider how the Police Commissioner should be appointed.

The country also needed to consider buffers to keep politicians out of police investigations.

The government's biggest mistake in the wake of the November 19 shooting was that it had itself tried to investigate what had taken place, instead of letting the police go about their business, Dr de Marco said.

And  the police had suffered from the culture, introduced by this government, where what was important was to tell the ministers what they wanted to hear, not what they needed to hear. 

This was a case where the victim was treated worse than the aggressor. The telephone conversation between the minister's driver, Paul Sheehan, the Acting Police Commissioner and the prime minister's spokesman should simply never have taken place, Dr de Marco said. 

MINISTER TO SEEK DIGNITY FOR THE POLICE

New Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela after thanking his predecessor and the former acting police commissioner, said his priority was to give dignity to the police force.  

He would be with the police force, but would not use the force, Mr Abela said.

The police would work independently  and he hoped the opposition would work with him in this regard. He also hoped that the media would also help to promote the people's confidence in the police force.