The lack of a proper management structure is to blame for the present state of the police force which, in recent months, has made the headlines for the wrong reasons. Police Association officers Malcolm Bondin and Robert Vella speak to Keith Micallef about regaining people’s trust.

The biggest problem with the force is mismanagement and the newly-formed association believes the decision-making process cannot remain totally centralised through the Police Commissioner.

“There has to be a permanent structure such as a board or committee. Its remit would also be to ensure a smooth transition whenever there are changes at the helm of the force and to draft a long-term plan,” association president Malcolm Bondin, a police inspector, said.

In this respect, the union welcomed an ongoing government survey to learn about the officers’ views on the force’s most pressing needs.

“We hope this survey will be evaluated within the force and not by an external body completely detached from reality on the ground.”

The police have recently been receiving a lot of bad press and more than two-thirds of the respondents in a recent Times of Malta online poll said they had no trust in the police force. This damning verdict was conducted in the wake of former judge Michael Mallia’s inquiry, which slammed the behaviour of former police inspector Roderick Zammit.

The conclusions also cast a shadow on his father, former acting police commissioner Ray Zammit, who stepped down last December following an incident involving police officer Paul Sheehan – who served as security driver of then home affairs minister Manuel Mallia – who shot at the car of a motorist who had accidentally hit the ministerial car.

The corps’ reputation took another blow last May when a board of inquiry concluded that, in 2013, former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit had arbitrarily decided to drop proceedings against a former client who had caused a ruckus at the Żabbar police station.

These incidents all happened within a 20-month period in which the police force had four different commissioners at the helm.

“All these changes and incidents have destabilised the force but things have started to improve since the appointment of Michael Cassar last December,” Mr Bondin said.

On the other hand, he added, it was unfair that all policemen were being made to suffer because of a “few bad apples”.

Although the association was only granted union status a few weeks ago, it has been active as a trade union entity since last May and now boasts about 1,250 members – enough to seek official recognition at the police force, which has some 2,000 officers. The association, set up 60 years ago, has strong roots within police circles.

Mr Bondin said the present organisational set-up gave the Police Commissioner absolute powers, which at times verged on the ridiculous. “The fact that the uniform of the rapid intervention unit, set up two years ago, has already been modified several times – every time there’s a new commissioner – is testament to this,” he noted.

All policemen are being made to suffer because of a few bad apples

Touching on bread and butter issues, he referred to controversial changes in the conditions of work, which, last year, prompted the association to file a judicial protest against the government. The issue revolved around the introduction of performance agreements for the force’s highest three ranks. To date, these changes are in limbo as they have not been implemented nor withdrawn.

The association argued that such changes would only serve to “undermine the independence and the integrity” of the force and warned it would not hesitate to forge ahead with legal action.

Almost a year later, the union is still holding talks with the Home Affairs Ministry to try and resolve the impasse.

“Our objection rests on the fact that such checks and balances are already in place in the Police Act, which empowers the Public Service Commission to take action when officers underperform,” Mr Bondin said.

In the case of high-ranking officers there was an additional tool at the government’s disposal because they were also entitled to a performance bonus.

“In their existing format, the changes will simply create the possibility of political interference as there are no guidelines or criteria on how our work would be assessed.”

The association is adamant that if no solution is found the only option would be a full-blown legal challenge.

On a daily basis, the most common complaints raised by union members so far deal with lack of resources at police stations and primitive facilities for officers assigned to fixed points.

“Given that the authorities have even devised a basic form of shelter for horses, the least we expect is that our members are afforded the same treatment,” Mr Bondin said. He recounted how some officers spent eight hours exposed to the elements because it was forbidden to take shelter in their own car. “All we are after is a small police box with the basic amenities,” he said.

As for police stations, the union is recommending a more regional approach. “It does not make sense to deploy an officer round the clock just for the sake of having a police station in a small village and then have no computer available to file a report,” union secretary general Robert Vella, also a police inspector, said.

He cautioned that officers in high-risk areas like St Julian’s – the perennial crime capital – were getting burnt out and a rotation system was called for to distribute the load evenly.

The union is recommending that officers spend no longer than three years in the same locality. This would cut the risk of having long-serving officers making acquaintances with dubious characters.

In the long term, the association plans to negotiate the first collective agreement for police officers in more than two decades, with the last one dating back to 1993.

A major bone of contention is that officers are subject to a 46-hour week; an additional 300 hours of work a year when compared to civil servants. The association has warned that, if conditions failed to improve, the force would face an exodus of experienced high-ranking officers who might take the option to retire after 25 years in the force.

Little progress made on overtime issue

A 1993 collective agreement had established a 46-hour week, beyond which officers would have the right to claim overtime.

Before this, officers used to receive a meagre Lm10 a month (€23.30), regardless of the number of hours spent at work. However, the 1993 overtime arrangement was never implemented as the hours of work were never adjusted to reflect this change. The worst hit were officers forced to work up to 96 hours a week, who were not getting paid extra in line with the agreement.

The situation persisted until 2009, when the association filed a judicial letter backed by 1,500 officers. Subsequently, the government amended the situation by changing the shifts but no agreement over the financial compensation was ever reached.

Eventually, the Nationalist administration tabled a verbal offer amounting to something to the tune of €12 million, which had been rejected as it was deemed too low.

The Labour Party then pounced on this opportunity by pledging to give an “adequate” compensation in its manifesto.

While acknowledging that Labour had met the association, Mr Bondin distanced himself from claims that they had been promised €50 million in compensation.

“We are not in a position to precisely quantify our claim as the association does not have access to the overtime records,” he noted.

Asked if any progress had been registered two years after Labour was elected to government, he said not much had been achieved during the tenure of Manuel Mallia, the home affairs minister who was sacked by the prime minister last December after the Paul Sheehan incident.

Following a number of meetings with Dr Mallia’s successor, Carmelo Abela, and, more recently, with the Prime Minister, the association is waiting for the government to come up with a compensation package before deciding its next step.

Asked if they had a red line, the association did not commit itself saying they would first wait for the offer the government was expected to table.

“We have been promised ‘adequate’ compensation and will not settle for anything less,” Mr Bondin said.